KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd's net profit dropped 12.5 per cent to RM358 million in the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2020 from RM409 million.
Group revenue, however, rose 4.8 per cent to RM2.34 billion from RM2.23 billion.
Maxis, in a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, said its service revenue had decreased by 2.6 per cent, and lower postpaid and prepaid service revenue down by 0.5 per cent, due to lower average revenue per user (ARPU).
In terms of subscription, Maxis' postpaid segment grew 13.7 per cent year-on-year (yoy), bringing the total to 3.4 million to give a larger base for resilient ARPU.
"We continue to see SIM consolidation and migration from prepaid to postpaid, in line with the burst in data usage arising from MCO (Movement Control Order) and stay at home and work from home requirements.
"We had a good set of results for Q1 overall amidst early impact of Covid-19. We continued to lead the mobile market and turned in solid growth in our fibre business, confirming strong traction in our convergence ambition," Maxis chief executive officer Gokhan Ogut said.
The group added 23,000 connections and maintained its Home Fibre ARPU at RM109 per month during the quarter.
Maxis expects the Covid-19 situation to evolve, saying that it would continue to assess the impact on its operations.
"Fundamentally, we are strong and are prepared to overcome theses challenging times with a well-developed business continuity plan that has been in place for several years," Ogut said.
"For now, our first priority is the health and safety of our employees, as the Maxis' front liners work 24/7 to ensure that consumers and businesses have uninterrupted connectivity and availability of services during this period," he added.
Maxis declared a first interim single-tier dividend of 4.0 sen per share for the year ending December 31, 2020, to be paid on June 25.