Digi Q1 2016 service revenue was flat, other indicators promising

• Postpaid service revenue grew 6.9%, subscriber base up 8.2%
• Profit after tax up 4.5% to RM399mil during the quarter

 
MOBILE services provider Digi.com Bhd recorded service revenue for the first quarter of 2016 of RM1.56 billion, unchanged from the preceding quarter, against challenging and competitive market conditions.
 
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) strengthened to RM704 million from RM701 million in Q4 2015, or a 43% margin despite aggressive IDD competition and moderated data monetisation opportunities.
 
PAT (profit after tax) rose 4.5% to RM399 million during the quarter, from RM382 million in Q4 2015, the company said in a statement. [RM1 = US$0.26]
 
“Our focus on network quality has enabled more customers to better enjoy our new innovative 360-degree Internet offerings,” said chief executive officer Albern Murty (pic above).
 
“We now have a stronger proposition for customers who would have never considered Digi’s services in the past,” he added.
 
Digi closed the quarter with 12.3 million customers, supported by a steady increase of active Internet customers to 7.9 million or 64.2% of its total base, the company said.
 
4G LTE (Fourth Generation/ Long-Term Evolution) customers grew to 2.9 million. Its 4G LTE network now reaches 73% of the population, with 33% of Malaysians also enjoying Digi’s 4G LTE-Advanced (4G LTE-A) services.
 
“Understanding our customers’ Internet appetite, we built in new innovative features to better serve them, such as extra Internet quota and rollover for them to enjoy affordable, worry-free data access and use the Internet in the way they really want to,” said Albern.
 
In Q1 2016, Digi’s postpaid service revenue registered a growth of 6.9% year-on-year and 3.1% quarter-on-quarter, while its postpaid subscriber base strengthened 8.2% year-on-year to 1.9 million subscribers.
 
Postpaid Internet subscribers increased to 1.5 million, representing 80.3% of the company’s postpaid subscriber base, which contributed to sequentially higher postpaid Internet revenue of RM207 million (Q4 2015: RM197 million).
 
Despite challenged by the industry’s aggressive Internet quotas and low entry postpaid plans, Digi’s postpaid ARPU remained at RM80 over a larger subscriber base.
 
Digi has declared a first interim dividend of 5.1 sen per ordinary share equivalent to RM397 million or almost 100% dividend payout for the quarter, payable to shareholders on 24 June 2016.
 
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