TM projects revenue growth of 3.5-4 pct for FY17

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) expects to perform well in the financial year ending Dec 31, 2017 (FY17), with revenue growth projected to grow at between 3.5 and four per cent, driven by its data, Internet and multimedia services.

Group Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, said while UniFi continued to lead its growth, TM would continue to leverage on its strategic investments in Webe and the TM Business Solutions.

"The investments are in line with our 'convergence and go-digital' aspirations as they move beyond connectivity services into new value-added digital services," he said.

Zamzamzairani said this at a press conference on TM's performance for FY16 here today.

He said the company's strategy was to ensure the growth of its current bussinesses and to be more innovative.

"Although we need to invest for the future, we have managed to remain profitable and continued to grow," he said.

TM's group revenue crossed the RM12 billion revenue mark in FY16, with a 2.9 per cent growth to RM12.06 billion against RM11.72 billion recorded in the corresponding period last year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for FY16 was RM3.79 billion, 2.5 per cent higher against FY15 due to higher total revenue.

The group's earnings before interest and tax for FY16 was RM1.15 billion, 8.2 per cent lower compared to last year, due to higher operating costs and the accelerated depreciation of its Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access assets.

Its capital expenditure (capex) for FY16 was 27.5 per cent of its revenue, or RM3.3 billion, due to TM's investments in preparation for its future growth.

For FY17, Zamzamzairani said, capex could be slightly higher but it would still be capped at around 30 per cent of its revenue.

He said TM remained committed in supporting the Malaysian Government with the high-speed broadband phase two and sub-urban broadband projects.

"The implementation of these projects are currently on track. We closed the year (FY16) with a wider HSBB footprint of 2.23 million ports nationwide, with an overall take up rate of 42.6 per cent," he said.

As at Dec 31, 2016, TM's total broadband customer base stood at 2.37 million customers.

TM marked its entrance into the mobility space through the launch of Webe in Sept 2016, with a turnaround plan expected to between three to five years.

"The Webe penetration on TM's households (those which subscribed to TM services is currently at around two per cent, but this is expected to increase to between eight and ten per cent by year-end.

"Webe's performance will be included in TM's key performance indicator on revenue growth and earnings for FY17," Zamzamzairani said.

On Unifi, he said TM had more than 949,000 active customers as at the fourth quarter of last year.

"About 79 per cent of them were on the 10 megabits per second speed and above.

"The strong take up of our higher value packages, and with more people buying content, as well as the traction in upselling has resulted in a strong average revenue per user trend," he said. - BERNAMA