KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), the country's largest telecommunications provider, saw a spike in network traffic during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period amid a jump in Unifi subscribers as many Malaysians were forced to work from home.
"Network traffic jumped close to 40% during the MCO," TM managing director and group chief executive officer Imri Mokhtar told a press conference today.
"We recorded positive growth in the number of Unifi subscribers as more Malaysians worked from home. TM Wholesale also continued to see higher international and domestic revenues," he said.
Imri expects the growth momentum to continue as the work-from-home trend picked up among companies even after the MCO was lifted.
This trend has augured well for the group based on its positive second-quarter results.
TM’s net profit surged 140.6% to RM274.75 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, from RM114.18 million a year earlier, although its revenue fell 6.5% to RM2.59 billion due to price adjustments of its Streamyx internet service amid restricted economic activities during the MCO.
The group declared an interim dividend of 6.8 sen per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2020, payable on Oct 2.
Going forward, Imri said TM will continue to serve the nation amid the uncertainty posed by the Covid-19 outbreak, while also remaining committed to maintaining its profitability in the coming quarters.
"This has been made evident through the resilient financial performance recorded in the quarter just ended, being a full quarter under MCO.
"In our unique role as the enabler of our country's Digital Malaysia aspiration, we continue to ensure that our network is always available to customers, so they can stay connected, productive and continue to be served," he added.
TM shares closed up 34 sen or 8.97% at RM4.13 today, with 13.69 million shares done. Its market capitalisation stood at RM15.58 billion.
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Edited by Kang Siew Li