Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): Celcom Axiata Bhd expects horizontal growth for the telecommunications (telco) industry in 2016, as the Malaysian market will see a saturation of over 143% in mobile penetration and growing competition.

In a statement today, Celcom Axiata chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly said the industry has seen sluggish growth for the past three quarters, as consumers shift their preference from voice and messaging to data consumption.

Data has seen immense growth due to the low base effect, but he said industry growth will require some time to recover as the decline in voice and messaging revenues is compensated.

"As such, we expect the 2016 industry growth to be horizontal — nevertheless with a high growth in the data revenues. In addition, macro-conditions are expected to play a big role and influence consumer purchasing decisions, as we had seen in 2015 with issues such as the goods and services tax.

"It will be a mature market for the same customers; however, Celcom feels this year the competition within the industry should focus more on experience and innovation instead of price — which had been the theme in the preceding year.

"It will be challenging to predict for 2016, aside from managing the transition from voice/SMS to data," said Shazalli.

He added that the key focus would be to retain existing customers due to the maturing telco market.

Meanwhile, for Celcom itself, he said the company will continue to build its network and will introduce new offers generated from online services, which includes the bundling of the Yonder Music App with its data plans.

The company will also expand its data network coverage and invest in latest 4G technology to ensure the fastest internet connection.

"Customers increasingly look forward to and appreciate the quality of their data network; and they are willing to look for and scout around for that quality rather than take up a super-discounted data plan and become disappointed because it does not provide rapid access to the internet.

"Observing our network capability, we are confident that we shall attract customers for the quality which we offer, and we are prepared to cater for this customer preference," he said.

 

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