Maxis posted higher 2016 revenue and earnings, likely to gain market share

• Fourth quarter revenue and earnings jumped 1.7% and 7.7%
• Continued to face challenges in growing subscriber base

MOBILE operator Maxis Bhd has gain some market share in the fourth quarter, after it managed to grow its fourth quarter earnings and revenue.

For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2016, Maxis revenue increased by 1.7% at RM2.21 billion while net profit jumped 7.7% at RM468 million. (RM1 = US$0.22)

For the full year, its net profit grew 15% at RM2.01 billion while revenue increased marginally at RM8.61 billion (2015 revenue: RM8.60 billion).

"2016 was a challenging yet a good year for us. Despite the intense price competition in the market, we performed well by focusing on offering our customers uniquely attractive value propositions," said Maxis chief executive officer Morten Lundal (pic above) in a statement.

"Our customers now enjoy a combination of lots of data at affordable prices on the best network, and we are proud to record all time high satisfaction. All in all, 2016 was a year of good progress with positive momentum heading into 2017."

Few weeks ago, rival Digi reported lower revenue and earnings for both the full year and fourth quarter periods.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2016, Digi reported a 3.19% decline in revenue at RM1.67 billion, while net profit declined 2% at RM374.63 million. For the full year, its revenue fell 4.5% at RM6.59 billion while earnings declined 5.2% at RM1.63 billion.

Other key indicators 

While Maxis seems to have performed better in both top line and bottom line, the company continues to face challenges when comes to growing its subscriber base. 

During the fourth quarter, its revenue generating subscribers (RGS) declined by 52,000 at 10.85 million. The decline is mainly driven by its prepaid segment -- which saw a 61,000 decline in prepaid RGS.

Its wireless broadband RGS also fell by 25,000 at 193,000. Good news is that its postpaid RGS increased by 34,000 during the quarter. It now has 2.71 million postpaid RGS.

(Note: Maxis' RGS numbers differs from the Market Definition Subscription numbers. Maxis RGS only takes into account of the customers who are still paying for its services, while Market Definition Subscriptions numbers include those subscribers who are not an active, but still "technically" a subscribers as their names/ numbers are still in the system)

Postpaid and prepaid revenue

During the year, postpaid service revenue was stable at RM3.93 billion (2015: RM3.92 billion), as a result of higher average revenue per user. 

The company also managed to double its MaxisONE plan subscription base to almost 1.7 million in 2016, with an average monthly ARPU of RM138 -- higher than the average postpaid ARPU of RM102 a month.

"MaxisONE Share continued to be a strong catalyst driving incremental port-ins with more than one-third of MaxisONE plan customers having a share line," said Maxis in the statement to Bursa Malaysia.

In 2016, prepaid service revenue declined 3.7% at RM4.02 billion (2015: RM4.17 billion), mainly driven by lower subscriber base as a result of intense price competition. 

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