KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 24): Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) saw a nearly 73% surge in its net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 (2QFY22) to RM378.06 million from RM218.59 million a year ago as revenue from all lines of services came in higher, particularly data and Internet services.

The strong earnings growth was achieved despite the 33% Cukai Makmur statutory tax rate accordingly for the quarter under review, in addition to larger foreign exchange loss on borrowings and higher effective tax rate.

Notably, TM's quarterly net profit of RM378.06 million is the highest quarterly net profit since 4QFY11 of RM598.3 million.

Earnings per share soared to 10.02 sen from 5.79 sen. Quarterly revenue grew 11.8% to RM3.09 billion from RM2.76 billion a year ago, its bourse filing showed.

The telecommunication giant also declared an interim dividend of nine sen per share declared with dividend reinvestment scheme applicable.

TM's unifi segment’s revenue grew by 8.9% to RM1.41 billion in the quarter under review from RM1.3 billion previously driven by increase from internet and voice services.

Additionally, TM One recorded a 3.2% increase in revenue to RM929.7 million in 2QFY22 from RM900.8 million previously mainly due to higher other telecommunication related services revenue from customer projects.

As for TM Wholesale, the segment’s revenue of RM761.2 million for the current quarter increased by 26.4% from RM602.2 million in 2QFY21 mainly contributed by higher revenue from voice and data services.

For the six-month period ended June 30, TM's net profit expanded by 32% to RM717.91 million from RM544.06 million as revenue increased 7.34% to RM5.98 billion from RM5.57 billion.

Looking ahead, TM group chief executive officer Imri Mokhtar said 5G will level the playing field and move the industry away from network-based to service-based competition, and that the group welcomes the government’s call for the industry to take up equity stakes in Digital Nasional Bhd.

“5G will open up and expand the opportunities and growth areas for all of TM’s business segments — consumers, SMEs, enterprises, wholesale as well as digital services.

“We look forward to rolling out 5G-enabled products and solutions and unlocking value to meet customers’ demands,” he said in a separate statement.

The share price of TM closed unchanged at RM5.65, giving it a market value of RM21.4 billion.