KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom (M) Bhd is gearing up to double the number of its mobile broadband customers to one million next year.
Chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly said Celcom had 475,000 mobile broadband customers as at Sept 30 and he was confident of breaching the 500,000 mark by year’s end.
“It’s our ambition to reach one million mobile broadband customers next year. That’s our dream. If we fail ... don’t scold us,” Shazalli said at a media briefing yesterday.
He said selling broadband today was very tough in a highly competitive market but Celcom was playing catch-up now.
“Operators including Celcom will be under pressure next year as well given that we have to achieve the Government’s target of having a 50% Internet penetration rate,” he said, adding that mobile broadband would be the company’s major focus next year.
Shazalli said Celcom was also monitoring closely its competitors’ broadband campaigns. “There’s potong-memotong, ciluk-menciluk promotions in the market. We’re closely monitoring those campaigns.”
He added that competition would also arise from incumbent Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s high-speed broadband (HSBB) slated for launching next year.
“We will not be able to provide speed as good as (for) fixed line but we are targeting those on the move with reasonable access on the go,” Shazalli said, adding that Celcom was “semi-proud” that it had the least number of complaints on its broadband service.
Year-on-year, Celcom’s mobile broadband customer base has grown 165% from 179,000 in the first nine months of 2008.
For the third quarter ended Sept 30, Celcom added 55,000 new mobile subscribers.
On revenue contribution, mobile broadband rang up RM245mil in the first nine months against RM71mil in the same period a year earlier.
To a question, Shazalli said to further enhance its broadband services, Celcom would invest in its network and services support next year.
However, he did not disclose the amount of its investment. “We will announce it (investment) when we announce our headline key performance indicators with (parent company) Axiata Group Bhd,” he added.
On its third-quarter performance, Shazalli said it was Celcom’s 14 consecutive quarter of positive growth.
Celcom posted a record profit after tax and minority interest of RM404mil, a 10% growth quarter-on-quarter. Revenue grew 4% to RM1.6bil against RM1.54bil in the preceding quarter.
Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 5% to RM716mil from RM682mil posted in the second quarter.
Its total subscriber base surpassed the 10-million mark during the third quarter on a 5% growth over the preceding three months.
Celcom’s postpaid segment average revenue per user (ARPU) in the third quarter dropped to RM94 from RM98 in the preceding quarter, while that for the prepaid segment was maintained at RM42. Blended ARPU was maintained at RM53.
On its lower ARPU, chief financial officer Chari TVT said the telco industry was also experiencing a downtrend.
“The downtrend is mainly due to the competitive landscape and the highly saturated market,” he said.
Shazalli said Celcom expected to end the year as planned in the 2009 key performance indicators.
No comments:
Post a Comment