This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 23, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) net profit for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2017 (3QFY17) rose 32.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM211.82 million from RM159.84 million, boosted by foreign exchange (forex) gains.

Quarterly revenue inched up 0.6% y-o-y to RM2.94 billion from RM2.92 billion, on higher income from Internet and multimedia services.

“I’m particularly happy to report that as at end-September, we saw stronger growth in Unifi, as net addition doubled quarter-on-quarter by 55,000, totalling 1.06 million customers. This is the highest quarterly Unifi net add we have achieved since 3QFY12,” TM group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Mohammed Shazalli Ramly said in a statement filed with its quarterly results with Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

“To date, over 94% of our Unifi customers are on 10Mbps and above packages, compared with only 75% last year. Our mobility service, Unifi mobile (previously known as webe), showed very encouraging performance and I’m pleased to report that to date, we have achieved 8% of TM’s household penetration [for our] FY17 target, ahead of expectations. This means we have achieved our target for the year earlier than expected,” he added.

For the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2017 (9MFY17), TM’s net profit rose 4.99% y-o-y to RM652.74 million from RM621.73 million, while revenue rose 0.8% to RM8.89 billion from RM8.82 billion.

On prospects, TM said it “foresees sustainable performance in the remaining quarter of FY17, despite competition and challenges in the telecommunication industry.”

“In the following months, the group will remain focused on accelerating its Convergence action plans and pushing forward with its Go Digital agenda towards delivering relevant convergence lifestyle communication services and end-to-end business solutions to all its customers,” TM added.

TM shares fell 15 sen or 2.44% to RM6 yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM22.55 billion.