Three key takeaways from Digi's Q4 numbers: Page 2 of 3

Prepaid numbers continue to decline

While Digi's postpaid business has been growing consistently for two years, its prepaid business has been on a declining trend.

Since fourth quarter 2014, the company's prepaid business, in particularly its service revenue, has been declining (with the exception of two quarters when it was stagnant). 

The last time it posted a quarter-on-quarter jump of more than 2% was in fourth quarter 2014, when its revenue increased by 2.7% to RM1.2 billion. 

The good news is that, it is not the only player who is experiencing the decline. In fact, the other two incumbents are also experiencing bumpy rides in their prepaid business. 

As at the third quarter 2016, Digi managed to expand its prepaid revenue market share despite its 6% lower prepaid revenue. (It managed to grow its market share at the expense of Celcom, which prepaid revenue fell by 22%)

Will Digi's full year prepaid revenue of RM4.2 billion be enough to keep it on the pole position? It is possible, but it will not be easy.

The difference between Maxis and Digi in the prepaid space in Q3 2015 was 3.3% market share. The gap was narrowed to 2.8% in Q3 2016. 

Next page: When the going gets tough, turn to sales and marketing!