KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 25): Maxis Bhd saw its net profit jumped 10.14% to RM554 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2017 (3QFY17), from RM503 million in the same period a year ago, thanks to stronger growth in postpaid segment.

Quarterly revenue rose 2.83% to RM2.22 billion in 3QFY17, from RM2.16 billion, on better revenue from its postpaid segment.

"This was mainly driven by a solid base of almost two million MaxisONE plan customers who contributed a stable and high average revenue per user of RM117 per month," Maxis said in a media statement, which was filed together with its results on Bursa Malaysia today

Commenting on earnings, Maxis said it chalked the highest quarterly earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of RM1.2 billion in 3QFY17, up 5% from RM1.14 billion in 3QFY16, on higher revenue and positive results from cost-optimisation initiatives.

"3QFY17 was a very strong quarter for Maxis, delivering the highest quarterly profits in five years. Record high demand for data and our quality network created an all-time high customer satisfaction score," its chief executive officer Morten Lundal said in a media statement.

In view of stronger earnings, Maxis declared an interim dividend of five sen per share for 3QFY17, in which it is maintaining the quantum of the dividend it declared in the same quarter last year. The dividends, it added, will be paid to its shareholders on Dec 28.

For the cumulative results, Maxis reported a net profit of RM1.63 billion in the period between January and September, up 8.22% to RM1.51 billion in the same period a year ago, supported by revenue that grew 2.31% to RM6.55 billion, from RM6.4 billion previously.

In the first nine months of this year, Maxis said it spent RM647 million in capital expenditures, which was 12% less than RM737 million it had spent in the same period a year ago, due to lower expenses on network modernisation as it rolled out high speed Internet that reached a high fourth generation long term evolution (4G LTE) network coverage of 89%.

Going forward, Maxis acknowledged that market competition is expected to remain intense with data quality and pricing becoming the focus for customers and competition.

"In the Postpaid segment, we will continue to build upon the strong positions of MaxisONE plan and the newly launched convergence solutions MaxisONE Prime," Maxis said.

"In the Prepaid segment, we remain focused to offer differentiated propositions that engage high mobile Internet users and enable a high-speed digital lifestyle," it added.

At noon break today, shares in Maxis dipped 2 sen to RM5.74, valuing the mobile network services provider at a market capitalisation of RM44.83 billion.