Axiata Group reported revenue of MYR 5.9 billion for the first quarter of 2017, which represents an increase of 1.6 percent quarter-on-quarter. Revenue growth was mainly boosted by data revenue which jumped 10 percent quarter-on-quarter and 43.3 percent year-on-year, and now accounts for 40.9 percent of total service revenue.
First-quarter EBITDA was up 8.8 percent to MYR 2.2 billion. Group normalised PATAMI improved to MYR 291 million from MYR 77 million in the previous quarter. Cash balance also increased from MYR 5.3 billion to MYR 6.7 billion, up 26.1 percent over the period.
In ASEAN markets, Celcom grew its postpaid revenue by 1.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, driven by its enhanced postpaid plans, First Gold 80 and First Platinum. This generated higher ARPU at MYR 81. Data revenue grew 29.8 percent year-on-year, contributing 44.8 percent to total service revenue.
Indonesian unit XL also recorded its third consecutive quarter of service revenue growth driven by an 8.9 percent increase in data revenue. Cambodia’s Smart Axiata saw its data accounting for 52.3 percent of total service revenue.
Despite regulatory challenges, the South Asia markets continued to deliver strong performance with data making stronger contributions to the Group. Dialog saw its data revenue jump 41.7 percent in the period, however, its QoQ performance was impacted, along with industry, by the re-introduction of VAT for a full quarter.
Robi showed overall strong QoQ growth performance and increased its data revenue by 83 percent year-on-year, while Ncell saw its profit after tax margin increase year-on-year, with data revenue jumping 70.3 percent, accounting for 17 percent of Ncell’s total revenue.
