Maxis Berhad reported its quarter two financial results yesterday. As of 2Q15, Maxis has 12.2 million revenue generating subscribers (RGS).
Breaking down the number, the Telco has close to 9.1 million prepaid RGS and 2.8 million postpaid RGS. Wireless Broadband subscribers is now lower at 351k but Home Fiber users increased to 99k as of Q2.
The ARPU of Maxis postpaid users in the quarter was RM97 while it was lower for prepaid (Hotlink) at RM36 (RM38 in 1Q15). Maxis claims that its prepaid ARPU was affected by the GST Freebies (voice and SMS) given to customers in the quarter.
The Telco revealed that it subscriber base for the MaxisONE postpaid plan is now higher at 434k with a stable ARPU of RM150.
In terms of Internet, there are some 9.1 million mobile Internet users. Out of this number, there are 1.9 million LTE users with an average data consumption of 2.2GB a month. More than 2 million 4G LTE devices were detected in the network.
73% of Maxis postpaid users and 63% of prepaid users have a smartphone. Overall smartphone penetration in the network is at 65%.
Maxis said that postpaid users consume an average 1.5GB a month while prepaid subscribers consume an average 1.2GB a month.
Maxis spent RM260 million in Q2 to support network modernisation, LTE expansion and capacity upgrade to support traffic growth. The current Maxis network coverage (statistic) are as below:
- 4G LTE: 41%
- 3G: 88%
- 2G: 95%
- Network Modernisation: 81%
The Telco claims that it leads the 4G LTE population coverage in the country at 41% and targets to reach over half of the Malaysian population by year end.
“The ongoing process improvements and network performance have led to not only a larger customer base, but also happier customers, with one indication being the complaint level which is halved since last year and at the lowest level in over a decade.” it claims.
Morten Lundal, Maxis Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said, “Operationally and financially, it was a good quarter for Maxis, taking into account the early GST hiccups and the general impact of GST on prepaid. Our intense focus on unmatched customer experience and to provide the best network for data is rewarded with more and happier customers.”
For the second quarter, Maxis registered an Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) of RM1,101 million and an EBITDA margin of 52.2%, against RM1,047 million and 48.7% in the previous quarter. The improvement in EBITDA was mainly due to lower quantum of foreign exchange losses in the quarter under review, it said. Compared to the same quarter in the preceding year, EBITDA and EBITDA margin improved by 3.5% and 1.1% from RM1,064 million and 51.1% respectively.
Service revenue for Q2 2015 of RM2,094 million was marginally lower than Q1 2015 but 2.2% higher than Q2 2014.
Profit after tax (PAT) for the period stood at RM485 million, 6.6% higher than the RM455 million recorded in the preceding quarter and marginally higher than Q2 2014.
The company announced a second interim dividend of five sen per share.
