This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 25, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd intends to cooperate with the new government to achieve data speeds that are twice as fast, at half the price as it is “fully committed” to increasing broadband speeds at reasonable prices.

Its chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Kuehner indicated the change in federal government, notwithstanding, the group has been continuously working on increasing broadband speeds and lowering costs over the past 18 months under its technology roadmap.

Earlier this week, newly minted Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said his ministry is working towards broadband connections that are “double the speed, half the price”, and that discussions will be held with telecos on the matter.

“As we have been doing for the past years, we have demonstrated that we are fully committed to increasing speed, and prices remaining very reasonable. We look forward to engaging with the minister to see what we can do to support his vision,” Celcom deputy CEO of business operations Azwan Khan Osman Khan said at a media briefing yesterday.

The unit of listed telecommunications company Axiata Group Bhd pointed to its support of faster broadband speeds as seen in its past investments in 3G, 4G and LTE-Advanced services.

It is also the first carrier in Southeast Asia to successfully conduct a fifth generation cellular network (5G) trial last year.

On the zerorisation of the goods and services tax (GST), the telco expects neutral impact but is awaiting more information on the impending return of the sales and services tax.

The group expects its financial performance to be flat or marginally negative this year, as effects of its ongoing tactical and structural cost transformation programme will only kick in in the longer run.