Malaysia-based Celcom Axiata, a subsidiary of the Axiata Group, continues its momentum with its network leadership as 4G LTE population coverage nationwide rose to 93% whilst 4G LTE-A coverage at 81%, as of Second Quarter 2019 (2Q19).
The Telco claims that its 4G LTE network has a 96% population coverage in 10 states namely Penang, Selangor, Johor, Perak and more, including more than 25 prime cities in Malaysia such as Klang Valley, Putrajaya, Georgetown, Ipoh, Johor Bahru and others. Celcom said these mobile network coverage are powered by a total of over 11,000 sites including over 9,000 4G LTE sites nationwide.
As of June 2019 (2Q19), Celcom has 8.78 million mobile subscribers, down (-172k) from 8.95 million subscribers it had as of 1Q19 (March 2019).
There are now 5.77 million prepaid subscribers (-200k) compared to 5.97 million in 1Q19. Prepaid Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) increased to RM37 (+RM3) vs RM34 in 1Q19.
As for postpaid, there are 3.01 million (+28k) subscribers up from 2.98 million in 1Q19. Postpaid ARPU improved RM1 to RM85 compared to RM84 in 1Q19.
About 82% of the Celcom subscriber base are smartphone users. The Telco said its “strong network” recorded a 39% YoY increase in average data usage to 13.3GB per month per sub in 2Q19, resulting from users enjoying the best digital experience such as video streaming, social networking and mobile gaming.
The company said its focus towards profitable segments also led to a 2.9% QoQ revenue growth for its postpaid and prepaid services, amidst a competitive industry. As of 1H19, EBITDA was lifted by 4.7%, FCF by 5% and PATAMI by 11.7%.
Commenting on Celcom’s 2Q19 performance, Idham Nawawi, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad, said Celcom’s continuous focus on being the industry’s leading network provider resulted with positive performance growth and a continued delivery of the best value for customers.
“Celcom continues to invest in deploying the latest end-to-end technology such as 4T4R multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO), Carrier Aggregation, 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and many more at our LTE tower sites, leading to the delivery of the best internet connectivity and digital experiences.
“Celcom also recorded a 34% increase YoY of data traffic with 265mil GB in 2Q19 and video services make up more than 50% of Celcom’s total customer data usage, an outcome of the improved experience on our strong network is the increase of data usage by Celcom customers.
“Celcom also maintained the highest Net Promoter Score with the highest satisfaction score within the industry. Celcom’s positive Net Promoter Scores reflect the excellence of the company’s network quality, coverage and customer service at all touch points. This includes Celcom’s digital usages and transactions which recorded a 32% increase with 1.547million unique user logins on the Celcom Life app, and a 65% increase of 1.585million online transactions,” he added.
Moving forward, he said “Celcom will further intensify its focus towards profitability and operational excellence with smart investments which includes our continuous pace on enhancing our network infrastructure at lower operational costs and exploring new areas for growth and innovation such as home and enterprise business segments.”
