Based on the latest financial report from the Axiata Group, there are now 8.03 million Celcom mobile subscribers as of the second quarter of 2020 (2Q20).
Celcom Axiata is a subsidiary of Malaysia-based Axiata Group, one of the leading Telecommunication company in the region.
The mobile Telco in Malaysia had 7.98 million subscribers in 1Q20. It registered some 45,000 new mobile subscriptions between the month of April, May and June 2020.
Celcom Xpax prepaid subscriber base stood at 5.1 million at the end of June 2020 (2Q20), adding 60k new subscription in the quarter. The Telco reported 5.04 million prepaid subscribers at the end of March 2020 (1Q20).
There were 2.93 million Celcom postpaid subscribers in 2Q20. It lost some 14,000 postpaid subscribers in the quarter. The Telco had 2.94 million postpaid subscribers in 1Q20.
For the latest financial quarter, ARPU for postpaid was at RM84 (-RM1) while for prepaid it was RM30 (-RM2).
Average data consumption per Celcom subscriber in 2Q20 was 19.6GB (vs 14.9GB in 1Q20).
Smartphone penetration in the network was higher by 1% at 85% in 2Q20. 80.8% of Celcom mobile subscribers are data users.
Celcom 4G LTE and 4G LTE-A human population coverage remains unchanged at 93% and 81% respectively, since March 2019.
According to a media statement from Axiata Group, “COVID-19 movement controls, free data and special relief offers combined with challenging prepaid segment affected Celcom’s performance for the quarter, leading to 9.5% reduction in revenue (ex-device) YTD. Adjusting for one-off expenses from the Employee Restructuring Programme in 1Q20, EBITDA declined 7.3% YTD mainly due to revenue impact from the MCO, offsetting the improved lower direct expense and sales and marketing costs”
“However, encouraging signs of recovery emerged in May with revenue returning to pre-MCO levels given the easing of movement restrictions and the company’s cost efficiency programme,” it said.
Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, President & Group CEO of Axiata said: “The full impact of COVID-19 was felt heavily in the second quarter, especially in April when movement restrictions were in full throttle across our markets. Although Malaysia eased into recovery following swift and decisive moves to soften pandemic blows, the crisis rages on in our region. As a result of the protracted financial and economic turmoil, unemployment continues to spiral as the industry confronts headwinds in the short- to medium-term.”
“Against this backdrop, we are encouraged that our cash position remains strong, and we continue to be ahead of our RM5 billion cost optimisation target by one year, as evidenced from the EBITDA margin improvement,” he said.
