Digi.com Berhad (Digi) reported its fourth quarter 2019 (4Q19) financial results last week. As of December 2019, the Telco has 11.28 million subscriptions compared to 11.33 million subscriptions in 3Q19 (September 2019).
It lost 49k subscribers in 4Q19, between October, November and December 2019.
Digi reported 8.25 million prepaid mobile subscribers as of December 2019 (4Q19), down by 88k from 8.34 million subscribers it had as of September 2019 (3Q19). Prepaid ARPU was at RM30 in 4Q19 (vs RM29 in 3Q19).
Postpaid subscribers base is now slightly better at 3.03 million as of December 2019 (4Q19). Digi added 39k new postpaid subscriptions in 4Q19. It had 3 million postpaid subscribers as of 3Q19. ARPU of Digi Postpaid subscribers was RM72 in 4Q19 (vs RM71 in 3Q19).
There are about 1.88 million active mobile subscriptions in the network that don’t use Digi Mobile Internet services. These include 294k Postpaid subscribers and 1.59 million prepaid subscribers.
As of December 2019, Digi mobile Internet subscriptions was at 9.4 million (vs 9.36 million in 3Q19). These Internet subscribers include 2.74 million on Postpaid and 6.66 million on Prepaid. Out of these, some 8.9 million subscriptions are using the 4G network. Digi Internet subscribers consumed an average 13.8GB per user between October-November-December 2019.
Digi 4G LTE coverage is up by 1% since June 2019 to 91% in 4Q19. Digi 4G LTE-Advanced coverage is up by 2% since June 2019 to 72% in 4Q19. The Telco claims an average data download speed of 30Mbps via its 4G network with performance ranked No.1 or 2 across 13 states in Malaysia. However Digi did not provide any 3rd party reference to these claims.
The Telco sold 168k devices in 4Q19 (vs 118k in 3Q19). About 85% of the Digi subscriber base are smartphone users.
The MyDigi app now serves 3.8 million active users, with 21 million upsell transactions on the app in the final quarter of 2019.
Key Financial Highlights (Y-o-Y), according to Digi:
| RM million | 4Q18 | 3Q19 | 4Q19 | Q-o-Q | Y-o-Y | FY18 | FY19 | FY-o-FY |
| Total revenue | 1,674 | 1,562 | 1,678 | 7.4% | 0.2% | 6,527 | 6,297 | -3.5% |
| Service revenue | 1,482 | 1,464 | 1,488 | 1.6% | 0.4% | 5,924 | 5,843 | -1.4% |
| EBITDA | 740 | 725 | 717 | -1.1% | -3.1% | 3,033 | 2,916 | -3.9% |
| EBITDA margin | 44% | 46% | 43% | -3.7pp | -1.5pp | 46% | 46% | -0.2pp |
| PAT | 378 | 362 | 353 | -2.5% | -6.6% | 1,541 | 1,495 | -3.0% |
- Service revenue grew 1.6% q-o-q and 0.4% y-o-y to RM1,488 million, supported by postpaid revenue and internet and digital revenue growth
- Internet and digital revenue grew 9.9% y-o-y to RM933 million or 64.9% of service revenue. Now with 9.4 million subscribers, each using 13.8 GB of data monthly
- Postpaid revenue1 grew 9.6% y-o-y to RM731 million, now with 3.0 million subscribers
- Prepaid revenue decline narrowed to -9.7% y-o-y to RM736 million alongside ongoing revenue mix shift from voice (45%) to internet (55%). This revenue mix shift will stabilise the segment to drive more sustainable returns for the long-term
- OPEX remained flat y-o-y aided by non-recurring cost effects, operating model shifts and efficiency benefits, in tandem with ongoing network investments to deliver solid customer experience in the quarter
- EBITDA moderated to RM717 million or 43% margin while Profit After Tax (PAT) traced to RM353 million or 21% margin; due to higher investments into driving higher customer contracts and improvements in network experience for customers
- Ops cash flow moderated to RM512 million or 31% margin after investing another RM205 million capex, as planned, for network enhancements to unlock future growth opportunities
- Net debt to EBITDA ratio healthy at 0.9 times while conventional debt over total assets steadied at 10.2%, remaining well-within the Shariah threshold
- Final dividend per share of 4.4 sen or RM342 million, payable to shareholders on 27 March 2020. FY2019 cumulative dividend per share stands at 18.2 sen
Digi’s CEO Albern Murty said, “We close 2019 with good momentum, delivering steady financial and operational performance by having executed well on our 5-year strategy. Moving forward into 2020 and the era of 5G, we remain focused on driving sustainable growth, efficiency and digital transformation for our customers, as we upgrade our network to deploy next-generation technologies to connect customers to what matters most. We have initiated several partnerships via Malaysia’s first 5G OpenLab in Cyberjaya and 5G Demonstration Project (5GDP) in Langkawi to test and find viable use uses to accelerate the country’s 5G development in the near future.”
