Digi reported its Third Quarter 2016 (3Q16) financial results on Wednesday. The yellow Telco now has a total subscriber base of 12.25 million, it lost some 98k subscribers in the quarter.
Some 2 million Digi subscribers are postpaid users. It added 40k new postpaid subscribers in the quarter (vs 5k in 2Q16). However postpaid ARPU dropped to RM80 (vs RM82 in 2Q16).
Digi prepaid subscribers dropped to 10.26 million in 3Q16. It lost 138k subscribers in the quarter from 10.39 million prepaid subscribers it had in 2Q16. Prepaid ARPU remain unchanged in 3Q16 at RM34.
There are 8 million Digi Internet subscribers, representing 65% of the total base (1.7 million postpaid and 6.3 million prepaid). Out of 8 million Internet subscribers, 3.7 million users are on the 4G LTE network.
63.7% of Digi subscribers are smartphone users.
In terms of network, Digi’s 4G LTE coverage now stands at 78% nationwide (vs 76% in 2Q16). Digi 4G LTE-A coverage is currently at 36% in key market centres.
Digi’s CEO Albern Murty said, “This was a very busy quarter for us as competition remained intense. We continued to remain resilient in the quarter, benefiting from a well-managed cost structure and delivering steady performance with earnings growth anchored by stronger internet and digital services momentum in particular from our expanded postpaid share.
“Customers remain our first priority, and our focus is to continue delivering value to them by innovating easier, richer retail and digital experiences. We saw this reflected in our latest postpaid and prepaid products, which has seen positive customer uptake, giving them more internet and digital services to do the things they love online with a consistent, stable experience on our quality 4G plus network. We are seeing more internet-loving Malaysians choose Digi as their digital partner; and we will build on this increasing confidence to unlock internet growth opportunities, and deliver on our promise to provide service excellence and easy enjoyment of new digital content and services.”
Key Highlights (Y-o-Y):
- Resilient service revenue of RM1,554 million; remained steady q-o-q while y-o-y decline narrowed to 1.9%
- Solid 10.4% postpaid revenue growth to RM489 million, fueled by 12.3% growth in subscriber base
- Prepaid revenue moderated by 6.7% to RM1,065 million; remained consistent q-o-q to deliver stronger earnings from sharper focus on subscriber quality and sustainable growth
- Internet revenue grew 12.6% from last year as smartphone adoption rose to 63.7% and active internet subscribers grew to 65.0% of total subscriber base
- Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) strengthened 7.8% to RM775 million at 48% margin
- Profit After Tax (PAT) registered solid growth of 10.3% to RM438 million
- Healthy third interim dividend of 5.6 sen per share or RM435 million, equivalent to almost 100% dividend payout in keeping with the company’s commitment to shareholders’ returns
