Maxis has reported a strong first quarter for 2024, driven by its integrated telco strategy. The company’s focus on its core Consumer and Enterprise businesses led to a 3.7% increase in Service Revenue YoY to RM2,191 million. The Consumer business saw growth across both mobile and home segments, while the Enterprise business sustained momentum due to rising demand for connectivity solutions and growing digital adoption.
EBITDA strengthened by 7.4% YoY to RM1,044 million, contributing to a 10.3% rise in Profit After Tax (PAT) to RM353 million. Maxis’ Consumer business saw a 3.3% increase in postpaid and home connectivity revenue, driven by its wide range of offerings catering to every segment. Postpaid revenue grew by 5.4%, driven by Maxis’ wide range of offerings catering to every segment, while prepaid remained resilient despite intense competition as tailored offerings for target segments led to subscriber growth. A healthy uptake in home fibre broadband contributed higher revenue of 9.9% in overall home connectivity as the Company continues to deliver greater value to customers. The company also recorded 6.0% revenue growth in its Enterprise business, driven by stronger fixed connectivity and enterprise solutions performance.
Maxis plans to accelerate the adoption of next-generation enterprise offerings, including 5G and 5G-Advanced solutions, and is committed to being the one-stop digitalisation partner for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The company manages capital expenditure efficiently, investing RM106 million in network capacity expansion, fibre rollouts, and IT digitalisation. Maxis is fully aligned with the government’s decision on the 5G delivery model and is ready to build another 5G network.
Comment by Goh Seow Eng, Maxis CEO:
“Our healthy first quarter performance validates our integrated telco growth strategy. Enhancing customer experience and delivering better value are our utmost priority. With our focused investments in our network and digitalisation, we are confident that we will continue to meet the connectivity needs of our customers.”
Q1 2024 financial highlights: Q1 2024 vs Q1 2023
- Service Revenue increased by 3.7% YoY to RM2,191 million, driven by growth in Consumer and Enterprise businesses.
- Postpaid mobile sustained momentum with healthy subscriber growth of 7.5%, bringing the total number of postpaid subscriptions to 3.65 million. This contributed to the RM911 million in Consumer Postpaid revenue for the quarter, up by 5.4%.
- Prepaid mobile subscriptions expanded by 1.5%, contributed by a tailored approach to different market segments and value creation through personalised offerings. The segment remained resilient, with overall subscribers at a stable 5.77 million and RM649 million in revenue.
- Home Connectivity delivered healthy revenue growth, rising by 9.9% year-on-year to RM244 million due to a targeted go-to-market strategy. Home connections registered 11.2% subscriber growth to 765,000 in comparison to the same quarter last year.
- Enterprise service revenue grew by 6.0% to RM387 million from growing demand for connectivity and digital solutions and services, as well as the 4G and 2G wholesale agreement formalised in June 2023.
- EBITDA strengthened by 7.4% to RM1,044 million as higher revenue from core Consumer and Enterprise businesses contributed to improved margins.
- PAT grew by 10.3% to RM353 million in line with stronger EBITDA.
- Capex of RM106 million on network capacity expansion, fibre network rollouts and IT digitisation.
- Operating free cash flow stood at RM857 million, contributed by strong working capital management and lower tax and vendor payments, with a healthy cash balance of RM1,168 million as at Q1 2024.
Key Initiatives:
- Showcased first 5G-Advanced (5.5G) technology trial in Southeast Asia, which is up to 10 times faster, connects 10 times more devices, and 5 times more responsive than 5G.
- Enriched Hotlink Prepaid and Postpaid plans, offering 5G across the board, even more data, and uncapped speeds.
- Introduced all-new 5G Home WiFi plans offering fibre-like speeds through a worry-free plug-and-play experience.
- Participated in the Government’s Pakej P-Hailing RAHMAH scheme announced in January 2024 to support delivery riders through affordable data plans that provide seamless connectivity critical for their daily deliveries.
- Received the prestigious international iF Design Award 2024 for User Experience (UX) for the Hotlink mobile app, with Maxis as the inaugural and sole Malaysia and Southeast Asia winner in the mobile application UX category.