KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 17): DiGi.Com Bhd reported a 12% drop in third quarter net profit at RM384.62 million from year earlier as the mobile telecommunication network provider's prepaid service revenue fell. DiGi said its prepaid subscriber base shrank.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia today, DiGi said net profit fell to RM384.62 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2017 (3QFY17) from RM438.38 million. Revenue was lower at RM1.57 billion versus RM1.62 billion.

"While prepaid market conditions remained challenging, exacerbated by declining legacy prepaid voice and messaging services, our focus on accelerating prepaid Internet growth and solidifying our Malaysian subscriber base resulted in stabilised prepaid revenue quarter-on-quarter at RM919 million while year-on-year decline narrowed.

"In the remaining quarter of 2017, we aim to ride on the ongoing postpaid and Internet growth momentum as well as drive stronger prepaid Internet subscriptions and monetisation," DiGi said.

During 9MFY17, DiGi said net profit fell to RM1.12 billion from RM1.26 billion a year earlier. Revenue was lower at RM4.7 billion compared to RM4.93 billion.

For 3QFY17, DiGi declared a tax-free dividend of 4.9 sen a share. The ex and payment dates fall on Nov 21 and Dec 22, 2017 respectively.

Today, DiGi shares settled at RM4.88 at 12:30pm for a market value of RM37.94 billion. The stock saw 1.75 million shares traded.