M1 net profit up, fuelled by non-voice revenue

By Digital News Asia April 15, 2015

Average postpaid and prepaid smartphone data usage both increase
Added 8,000 postpaid and 10,000 prepaid customers in quarter ended March 31

M1 net profit up, fuelled by non-voice revenue

M1 Limited announced that its net profit after tax increased 6.6% year-on-year to S$45.7 million, with non-voice revenue rising 6.9 percentage points year-on-year to hit 52% of service revenue.

Its service revenue itself increased 0.2% year-on-year to S$204.4 million, with continued growth in mobile and fixed services revenues offsetting a decline in international call services revenue, M1 said in a statement announcing its unaudited group financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2015.

During the quarter, M1 said it added 8,000 postpaid customers and 10,000 prepaid customers, bringing the total mobile customer base to 1.87 million as at March 31.

Monthly postpaid churn improved to 1%, compared to 1.2% in the preceding quarter. M1 also added 5,000 fibre customers during the quarter to bring its base to 108,000.

Average postpaid smartphone data usage increased to 3.2GB per month in the latest quarter, from 2.8GB per month a year ago, while average prepaid data usage doubled year-on-year to 0.8GB per month.

“Even as we see continued growth in data usage, we will make further investment in talent and new technology platforms to enable smart solutions on our network,” said chief executive officer Karen Kooi.

“This will position us well to capture further growth and participate in the Smart Nation initiative,” she said, referring to the Singapore Government’s plan to leverage technology to enable sustainable economic development and a high quality of life.

“Based on the current economic outlook and barring unforeseen circumstances, we estimate moderate growth in net profit after tax for the year 2015,” she added. [S$1 = US$0.73]