Celcom Axiata, a leading 4G mobile network operator in Malaysia and the wholly-owned subsidiary of Axiata Group, now has 9.5 million subscribers, as of 2Q 2022.
The mobile network operator (MNO) had 9.58 million subscriptions at the end of March 2022.
Majority of the termination came from prepaid users, which numbered around 82,000. Celcom prepaid subscriber base stood at 6.25 million as of June 2022, down from the 6.33 million it had in March 2022 (1Q22).
Celcom’s postpaid subscriber base stood at 3.25 million. The MNO lost less than 1,000 postpaid subscriptions between April, May and June 2022.
ARPU for Prepaid increased to RM30 (+RM1) while Postpaid was at RM80 (unchanged).
About 8 million subscriptions or 83.7% of the mobile base are Internet users, consuming an average 24.6GB data in 2Q22 (vs 23.9GB in 1Q22).
93% of Celcom mobile subscribers (8.8 million) are smartphone users.
It didn’t reveal the number of its Home Fibre Broadband subscriber base.
4G LTE coverage improved to 96.21% as of June 2022 (+0.35%) while 4G LTE-A coverage is now at 90.20% nationwide (+0.31%).
In a statement sent out earlier this week, Celcom said it invested more than RM1 billion over the past 18 months which included the deployment of “new 4G LTE layers” at almost 9,000 existing and new Radio Access Network (RAN) sites, network core capacity upgrades and network optimisation activity, to enhance the 4G services nationwide.
For the 1H of 2022, Celcom claims that it improved overall service coverage and network experience, resulting in a 73% increase in average download speeds and a 44% reduction of complaints to date.
The MNO is committed to further build and deploy 570 new 4G LTE network sites, upgrade over 700 sites with the latest 4G LTE technology, and expand network coverage by deploying 670 LTE900 (900Mhz) low band sites, following the shut down of its 3G network.
On Celcom’s latest financial performance, it said revenue ex-device grew by 4.2% YTD to RM3,032 million, driven by positive prepaid and postpaid subscriber growth with an additional 135k prepaid subscribers YoY (+2.2%). Postpaid revenue grew with 143k new subscribers YoY (+4.6%) driven by family and convergence packages and the return of roaming traffic. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) gained +13.0% to RM1,507 million from higher revenue and improved cost, supported by transformation and cost saving initiatives, while EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and profit after tax and minority interest (PATAMI) improved more than 100% to RM875mil and RM542mil respectively.
Commenting on Celcom’s 1H-2022 performance, Datuk Idham Nawawi, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad emphasized Celcom’s resilient performance is the result of the company’s “Operational Excellence Transformation” focus on delivering to market demand with attractive and affordable services while maintaining operational cost management.
“Our continuous and increased network investments to address the rapid data traffic growth and provide our customers consistent network performance and the widest coverage, have resulted in significant reduction in complaints as well as subscriber growth and profit. With an encouraging revenue and subscriber growth, we plan to reinvest into our ongoing network modernization efforts, ensuring that our network reaches out to all societies, including remote areas in Sabah and Sarawak.
“We will also remain focused on delivering value through affordable product and service innovation, including strengthening our Enterprise ICT service portfolio and Convergence services. We will continue to be a service provider that our customers and ecosystem can rely on,” Idham added.
