The Second Quarter (2Q21) financial results from Maxis Berhad reveals that the mobile and fixed Telecommunication company in Malaysia has a mobile subscriber base of 11.67 million at the end of June 2021.
Maxis, now calling itself Malaysia’s No.1 Network (formerly a ‘Premium Network‘) based on outdated 2020 performances, added 155k new mobile subscriptions in 2Q21, between the month of April, May and June 2021. It had 11.52 million mobile subscribers in 1Q21 (March 2021).
Hotlink, its “entry level brand”, as the Maxis CEO calls it, has a subscriber base of 7.36 million. Maxis lost 5k hotlink prepaid subscriptions between April, May and June this year. It had 7.37 million Hotlink prepaid subscriptions as of March 2021 (1Q21).
For postpaid, Maxis added 127 new subscriptions (including M2M) in 2Q21, increasing the postpaid subscriber base to 4.13 million. The Telco had 4.01 million postpaid subscriptions in 1Q21.
It reported a Wireless broadband subscription base of 178k users, adding 33k new subscriptions in 2Q21. It had 145k wireless broadband subscriptions in 1Q21.
Despite adding 155k new mobile subscriptions in 2Q21, Maxis lost about 400k mobile Internet users. As of 2Q21, it has 8.5 million mobile Internet users, a drop from the 8.9 million users it had in 1Q21.
There are 487k Maxis fibre broadband users, signing up 22k new customers in 2Q21. Maxis says that its home fibre services are available to over 5 million homes nationwide and it is targeting 7.5 million homes passed by end of 2022 as part of the Government’s Jalinan Digital Negara Plan (JENDELA).
APRU for Prepaid was at RM31 (RM32 in 1Q21), Postpaid at RM75 (RM76 in 1Q21), meanwhile APRU for Home Fibre was at RM109 (RM108 in 1Q21).
When it comes to revenue generating subscriptions (RGS), Maxis has 10.09 million mobile subscriptions (-2k, 10.09 million in 1Q21) including 5.94 million prepaid (-142k, 6.08 million in 1Q21), 3.98 million postpaid (+111k, 3.87 million in 1Q21) and 167k (+29k, 138k in 1Q21) wireless broadband users.
Maxis revenue generating subscribers (RGS) are defined as active line subscriptions (postpaid and prepaid) that excludes those without revenue generating activities for more than 30 days.
It claims 93% 4G LTE human population coverage, based on the lowest signal strength measurement.
Q2 financial highlights year-on-year – Q2 2021 vs Q2 2020, according to Maxis:
- Resilient service revenue at RM1,988 million with a healthy growth of 3.1% from the preceding year as converge strategy gains momentum and a higher contribution from Fibre and Postpaid businesses.
- Normalised EBITDA showed strong growth of 6.1% to RM1,011 million due to higher revenue from Fibre and Mobile businesses.
- Strong profit after tax (PAT) with a 5.3% YoY increase to RM360 million.
- Healthy Postpaid revenue at RM1,002 million, a 2.2% increase since Q2 2020 and a 7.0% YoY growth of subscriber base, mainly for Maxis Postpaid and Hotlink Postpaid subscriber base. Monthly ARPU was healthy at RM81 although lower from RM85 in Q2 2020 due to the dilution effect from increased subscribers adopting Hotlink Postpaid.
- Stable Prepaid revenue of RM685 million, easing 0.1% YoY as well as a 0.6% YoY decrease of subscribers. However, there is still consistent adoption of Hotlink Prepaid Unlimited despite a declining market, due to successful branding and omnichannel marketing which targets underserved markets be it B40, youth or foreign workers. Prepaid ARPU remained stable at RM38 for the quarter.
- Achieved critical size and scale for home connectivity with 654k fibre and wireless subscribers, a strong growth of 28.5% YoY. Fibre revenue increased by 23.5% to RM163 million with an 18.5% increase in connections YoY. This was backed by strong adoption of Maxis Unlimited Postpaid & Fibre and higher-end plans, resulting in ARPU remaining firm at RM109. Home 4G Broadband saw an increased ARPU to RM114 and subscribers increased by 70.4% particularly in non-fibre coverage areas, leveraging Maxis 4G/LTE superior network.
- Operating free cash flow (OFCF) at RM894 million mainly due to Universal Service Provision contribution payment.
- Maxis and Hotlink apps continue to see increased adoption with 61% of postpaid primary account holders on the Maxis App, while 75% of prepaid mobile customers are using the Hotlink App.
- A 4 sen interim dividend was declared for the quarter as productivity, collections and cash management initiatives are delivering as planned in the “new pandemic normal”.
In a media statement posted to Bursa Malaysia, Maxis CEO, Gökhan Ogut said, “We continue to support the nation by providing the best connectivity for Malaysians in these difficult times. While we are pleased with the strong performance that we have achieved for the quarter, we will remain focused on ensuring that our customers – from individuals, homes, and businesses – have access to the best solutions and services. We are committed to investing in Malaysia by driving greater digital adoption for businesses, expanding our network and building new capabilities and talent.”
