KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 28): Telekom Malaysia Bhd's (TM) net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 rose 12% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM114.18 million or 3.04 sen per share from RM101.93 million or 2.71 sen per share.

This was despite a 6% drop in revenue during the quarter, the group said in a filing today. Revenue fell to RM2.77 billion against RM2.94 billion a year ago due to a decline in voice, Internet and multimedia services, other telecommunication related as well as non-telecommunication related services.

TM said Unifi revenue fell 10.7% in the current quarter mainly due to lower revenue from Internet and multimedia services as an impact from the lower cumulative customer base for Streamyx and unifi broadband services.

TM One revenue also fell 8.4% due to decline in voice and other telecommunication related services. However, revenue for TM Global rose 18.2%, mainly contributed by data services.

It added that operating profit before finance cost increased 6.8% due to reduction in operating costs from the continuing impact of the group's various cost initiatives, notwithstanding the revenue reduction and impairment loss on network assets recognised during the current quarter.

For the first half 2019, TM reported a net profit of RM422.46 million, up 63% from RM259.09 million last year, though revenue fell 4% y-o-y to RM5.55 billion from RM5.78 billion.

On prospects for FY19, TM said its performance improvement initiatives and efficient cost management continue to stabilise its profitability.

The group's focus remains on its customers, and strenghtening its performance by investing to improve customer experience, increase customer acquisitions across all segments and grow its revenue, it said.

At 12.30pm today, TM shares were six sen or 1.52% higher at RM4.01, for a market capitalisation of RM15.02 billion.