Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), Malaysia’s self claimed “Convergence Champion” reported its Second Quarter 2019 (2Q19) financial results late last month. The largest fixed Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the country now has 2.16 million subscribers (including Unifi), lower than the 2.2 million it reported as of 1Q19.
As of June 2019, TM Streamyx broadband customer base was reported at 823k down (-49k) from 872k it had as of March 2019. TM said that the drop in Streamyx subscriber was due to “migration to unifi”. However TM only added 16k new Unifi broadband customers. It now has 1.34 million Unifi subscribers, up from 1.32 million as of March 2019 (1Q19).
Both ARPU for Unifi and Streamyx are lower at RM177 (vs RM179 in 1Q19) and RM86 (vs RM87 in 1Q19) respectively.
TM lost 33k broadband customers between April, May and June 2019. During the same period, Maxis added 30k new Home Fibre customers including Business Fibre customers.
Maxis also added more fibre customers from January to March 2019 (1Q19) with 31k new fibre customers (including business) compared to 25k new Unifi customers during the period (TM lost some some 64k Streamyx customers in 1Q19). TM does not break down the number of Unifi customers between consumers and business.
TM also did not disclose the number of its Unifi Mobile customers.
Financial and Operational Highlights 1H 2019 Year-to-Date (YTD) June 2019 vs YTD June 2018), according to TM:
- Group Revenue of RM5.55 billion, 4.1% lower against 1H2018 – in line with market guidance- mainly due to lower contribution from all lines of products except data services.
- Group Reported Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) for 1H2019 grew 75.0% YTD at RM777.9 million, from RM444.5 million in 1H 2018, on the back of lower operating cost, from the Group’s various cost optimisation initiatives.
- Group Reported Profit After Tax and Non-controlling Interests (PATAMI) rose 63.1% YTD to RM422.5 million compared to RM259.1 million.
- The total capital expenditure (CAPEX) was in line with guidance at 8.1% of revenue or RM450.0 million.
Commenting on the results, Dato’ Noor Kamarul Anuar Nuruddin, Group Chief Executive Officer, TM said, “We continued to face challenges in 1H 2019. However, our cost optimisation efforts continue to show results and we will keep the momentum on profitability going. We shall navigate the challenges on revenue through stronger focus on customers. We will also continue to serve as a strategic partner of the National Fiberisation Connectivity Plan (NFCP) backed by our solid network infrastructure.
“Our CAPEX is well within guidance as we continue to optimise investment for growth and quality improvement to better serve our customers.”
“We will place stronger focus on our customers and this is evidenced in a number of initiatives that we have implemented thus far. We recently announced our latest #khabarbaik on the introduction of unifi Air, the new unifi Lite entry package and Streamyx repricing to reward existing customers and attract new ones onboard. We also pledged our commitment on improved service delivery, such as the implementation of 24-hour installation for new unifi sign-up, within 2-hour customer support, and a new myunifi app. The announced (copper) network upgrade is also ongoing in our commitment to enhance the overall broadband customer experience. “
