Harimau Capital

KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd recorded its highest ever earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2012 of RM3.45bil mainly due to contributions from voice, SMS, mobile broadband and smart spending programme.

The EBITDA earnings grew 7.1% from RM3.22bil a year ago.

The programme was introduced three years ago for its operation and capital expenditure. The company had saved RM1.3bil from it.

Chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly told a press conference that 2012 was an outstanding year for Celcom, which is the main pillar ofAxiata Group Bhd.

Celcom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Axiata, reported a 3.6% increase in revenue for its voice segment to RM4.6bil in 2012 from RM4.4bil in 2011 while the non-voice revenue stood at RM2.73bil, a 10% increase from a year ago.

Company revenue for 2012 stood at RM7.74bil, a 7% growth compared with RM7.23bil a year ago while its profit after tax and minority interests (PATAMI) stood at RM2.2bil, up 5.1% from a year ago.

At end-2012, with its total subscribers reaching 12.7 million and the inclusion of the mobile virtual network operators (MPOV) such as XOX Bhd and Tune Talk Sdn Bhd, the company had overtaken Maxis Bhd's number of subscribers.

For the fourth quarter ended Dec 30, 2012, the company's EBITDA increased by 2.74% to RM861mil from RM838mil in the same quarter in 2011. Its revenue for the quarter stood at RM1.98bil, up 3.89%.

Meanwhile, the fourth quarter's PATAMI decreased 18% to RM510mil from RM622mil in the same corresponding period, which the company said was mainly due to bonus payouts. The average revenue per user stood at RM49 for both postpaid and prepaid.

“This is our 27th consecutive quarter of growth despite a challenging outlook for the industry and the termination of a domestic roaming arrangement from U Mobile,” Shazalli said.

He added that the company lost RM45mil from the termination, but added it still showed the highest revenue growth in the industry.

Moving forward, Celcom targets to invest RM1bil for capital expenditure this year, with RM300mil invested on information technology and network expansion.

“This year will be a very challenging year for us. We are also targeting to venture into new digital businesses,” he noted.

Shazalli said that Celcom was long-term evolution (LTE) ready and planned to allocate RM100mil as capital expenditure to roll out its LTE programme with the commercial launches to be announced in the second quarter of this year.

To date, Celcom has rolled out up to 70 4G sites and this is expected to reach 300 to 500 sites by year-end.

“We target to reach at least 1,500 4G sites by 2015,” Shazalli noted.

LTE, which is marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals.

Asked on its partnership with loss-making XOX Bhd, one of its MPOVs, Shazalli said the company was targeting a new business plan and new brand to be launched by second quarter of this year.

Outstanding: Celcom Axiata Bhd CEO Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly rejoicing at the company’s quarter four results briefing in Kuala Lumpur. Celcom posts an outstanding full-year 2012 results with record earnings.