KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) net profit in the first half of the financial year 2019 (H1 FY2019) jumped 63.1 percent to RM422.46 million from RM259.09 million recorded a year ago. Group chief executive officer Datuk Noor Kamarul Anuar Nuruddin attributed the results to its cost optimisation, as well as better performance in core businesses. He was also confident that the group would be able to maintain its momentum until year-end.
“We will continue to focus on acquiring new customers and revenue growth, enhancing customer experience, as well as upgrading our current network infrastructure,” he told reporters at the company’s H1 FY2019 results briefing here yesterday. He added the introduction of unifi Air, new unifi Lite entry package and repriced Streamyx to retain existing customers and attract new ones, would further boost the company’s earnings, going forward. “We have also improved our service quality assurance, which includes 24-hour installation, customer support and the new myunifi application.
We are also committed to copper network upgrade,” he said. On capital expenditure, Noor Kamarul said the company had invested RM450 million for the period under review, of which 19 percent was used for its core network, 54 percent for access and the remaining 27 percent was spent on the support system. In another development, he said TM was ready to roll out 5G services.
“We are now waiting to hear from (the) MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) for that (the assignment of 5G spectrum),” he added. It was reported that the MCMC would announce the allocation of 5G spectrum to mobile operators by October this year. Commenting on Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB)’s plan to venture into the telecommunications sector, Noor Kamarul said TM is willing to collaborate with the utility company to provide better services to the people.
“Previously, there were several companies that wanted to do it on their own but their plans fell through and they came back to TM,” he said. In April, TNB was reported as saying that the company is prepared to venture into the connectivity business that provides fibre optic infrastructure for highspeed broadband, following the successful National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan pilot project in Jasin, Melaka. – Bernama
