Maxis eases despite introduction of LTE services

Maxis Bhd's stock was easier on Bursa Malaysia today despite being the first to introduce 4G Long-term Evolution (LTE) services in selected parts of the Klang Valley yesterday.

At 11.03am, the shares eased a sen to RM6.64 with 689,800 shares traded. Maxis said its 4G LTE service operated at download speeds of five-10 times faster than 3G and would enable and sustain a seamless experience of rich content across its high-speed fixed and wireless network platform nationwide.

It said the service, however, would only be available for wireless broadband at this juncture while its use for other devices such as smart phones and tablets would only come in at a later stage.

Meanwhile, Kenanga Research said there was ample room for Maxis to increase its 4G LTE speed given that the current speed of up to 75Mbps was only half of the broadband speed that was being offered through the combined Maxis-REDtone spectrum.

"Maxis remains a solid high-yield stock play given its firm 40-sen dividend per share in the next 1-2 years," it said in a research note today.

Kenanga said potential margin erosions were, however, expected as a result of the aggressive rollout of its Home Fibre plan and handset subsidy.

Kenanga has maintained its 'market perform' call on Maxis at a target price of RM7