DIGI.Com Bhd’s net profit rose 8.5 per cent to RM487 million in the third quarter ending September 30 2014 from RM448.7 million, fuelled by growth in service revenue and efficient cost structure.
Its revenue strengthened 3.3 per cent year-on-year to RM1.75 million, supported by a stronger subscriber base of 11.3 million.
For the quarter, DiGi also recorded higher capital expenditure (capex), primarily to deliver on its planned billing migration, expansion of 3G coverage to 84 per cent and acceleration of LTE sites to support growth demand for Internet services.
It is on track to invest up to RM900 million capex allocated for the year to secure competitive infrastructure capabilities, including expansion of high-speed data coverage footprint to 86 per cent.
In addition, operations cash-flow margin remained healthy at 29 per cent after accounting for 17.9 per cent higher capital expenditure year-on-year to fund the expansion of high-speed data coverage and migration to a modernised billing platform.
DiGi chief executive officer Lars Norling said its priority was to deliver stronger customer and quality focus.
“We will continue to accelerate adoption and usage of the Internet by making it a relevant and affordable device and digital service offerings easily accessible to more people, in line with our mission of enabling Internet for all,” he said.
DiGi announced that it will pay a third interim tax exempt dividend of 6.2 sen per ordinary share, equivalent to RM 482 million or 99.0 per cent payout ratio, compared with the same quarter last year, payable to shareholders on December 5.
It stated higher mobile Internet customer volume at 26.5 per cent, surging to six million compared with the same period last year.
This, it revealed, was due to the significant increase in smartphone penetration on its network to 47 per cent and an enlarged customer base of 11.3 million.