KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd posted a higher normalised profit after tax of RM494 million in the third quarter ended September 30, up by 2.9 per cent from RM480 million registered in the second quarter 2014.
In a statement, the company said its service revenue remained steady at RM2.5 billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at RM1.1 billion, with an EBITDA margin on service revenue at a solid 52.7 per cent.
Based on the third quarter financial results, Maxis chief executive officer Morten Lundal said the company is progressing well and on track with its transformation journey.
"Our third quarter numbers were broadly stable, but with operational drivers showing an upward trend, we see many more opportunities to create positive surprises that make the customers feel special and creater 'Like' moment," he said.
This quarter, Maxis took a RM16 million revenue hit from the re-pricing of postpaid pay-per-use charges.
Despite that, the company acquired higher mobile Internet (MI) users, whereby MI users surged to 7.6 million with MI revenue growing 6.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter and MI share of mobile revenue improved to 30 per cent, driven by momentum gained from worry-free propositions and higher smart phone penetration.
Maxis also saw its blended smart phone penetration at 54 per cent this quarter, up 5 per cent points, fuelled by attractively priced low-to mid-tier devices.
The quarter also saw Maxis registering a turnaround in its prepaid, driven by strong product portfolio and distrbution focus.
The company had a second consecutive quarter of prepaid subscription growth, closing the quarter with 9.1 million subcriptions.
Meanwhile in postpaid, MaxisONE plan continued to gain good traction, bringing in good balance of new and migrated subcribers as well as good average revenue per unit impact.
According to the statement, Maxis invested RM337 million in capex this quarter and is on track to spend more than RM1 billion this year.
"The new modernised network will reach more than 75 per cent of the population before the end of this year," Maxis said.
Maxis also leads the LTE (long-term evolution) population coverage in the country, which stood at 21 per cent, covering key market centres and state capitals.
The company also announced a third interim dividend at eight sen per share.