TM profit surges on operating revenue and disposal gains

Saturday November 27, 2010




KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd's (TM) net profit for its third quarter surged 145% to RM438.49mil from RM179.07mil before mainly due to higher operating revenue and higher gain on disposal of investments.



Revenue for the quarter ended Sept 30 increased to RM2.19bil from RM2.10bil a year earlier mainly on higher revenue from data and other telecommunications-related services, which mitigated the impact of lower revenue from voice and non-telecoms services, TM told Bursa Malaysia yesterday.



Data revenue increased by 24.6% in the third quarter to RM440.9mil compared with RM353.9mil in the same quarter 2009 arising from demand for higher bandwidth services.



Other telecommunications-related services revenue increased by 34.2% in the third quarter to RM320.7mil compared with RM238.9mil in 2009 mainly due to higher revenue from customers' projects such as MERS 999 and income from HSBB (high-speed broadband) grant, it said.



Revenue from Internet and multimedia rose 1.4% to RM411.1mil arising from the increase in broadband customers to 1.6 million during the quarter from 1.4 million in the corresponding period of 2009, TM said.



For the nine months ended Sept 30, TM's net profit surged to RM805.82mil from RM472.78mil a year earlier while revenue increased to RM6.47bil from RM6.34bil.



On prospects going forward, the company said the broadband market was set to grow further as the country moved rapidly toward Internet-based activities and transactions.



Broadband service is now gradually being seen as a necessity for the average Malaysian and this was evident in the strong take-up rate for TM's broadband services recorded over the previous quarters, it said.



According to TM, the number of UniFi users has exceeded 21,000 while premises breached the 700,000 level as at Nov 15.



UniFi has also been expanded to cover a total of 26 exchange areas with seven of those located in industrial zones in Johor, Penang, Kedah and Selangor.



By end-2010, TM is expected to meet the target of 48 exchange areas being served by UniFi with 750,000 premises passed, it said.



TM said it expected the business environment for the year ending Dec 31 to remain challenging.


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