25 May 2022
TM records steady performance in 1Q2022 with revenue & PATAMI up 2.9% & 4.4%; maintains focus on its growth strategies execution
In the second year of its Transformation, the Group is on track to achieve its 2022 market guidance, focusing on strengthening its core businesses and investing in new growth areas
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) continued its growth trajectory and long-term business sustainability, recording a steady performance in its First Quarter ended 31 March 2022 as compared to the same period last year (YoY).
The Group's operating revenue increased by 2.9% to RM2.89 billion, compared to RM2.81 billion in the same quarter last year, driven primarily by increased demand for voice, Internet and multimedia. Despite rising competition to offer converged solutions among telco and other technology players, TM continued to deliver strong customer growth across its operations.
Capitalising on its core businesses and investing into new growth areas, TM further ramped up its transformation initiatives, delivering profit after tax and non-controlling interests (PATAMI) for the quarter at RM339.9 million or 4.4% higher than the RM325.5 million recorded in 1Q2021. The Group also recorded lower financial costs subsequent to the early redemption of its RM2.0 billion sukuk in March 2021, as well as lower foreign exchange translation losses on borrowings. The Group has applied the Cukai Makmur statutory tax rate accordingly for the current quarter.
Accelerating into the second year of its Transformation, TM brought forward its manpower optimisation to enable earlier realisation of expected benefits to the Group. This, along with foreign exchange impact on trade settlement has led to a 5.0% decrease in EBIT at RM560.4 million for 1Q2022 compared to RM589.7 million in the same quarter last year. Excluding these costs, the Group's underlying EBIT is 14.0% higher at RM650.2 million compared to RM570.5 million in 1Q 2021. Free Cash Flow is lower by 15.1% at RM658.8 million compared to RM775.7 million due to higher CAPEX as the Group continues to invest in business expansion and meeting customers' demands through technology refresh and network delivery, ensuring steady growth.
unifi: Double-digit revenue and subscriber growth
unifi continued its growth performance, recording revenue increase of 10.6% from RM1.25 billion to RM1.38 billion in the current quarter. Sustained by increasing demand from Internet, voice and sales of devices, with cumulative fixed Internet subscribers increasing by 17.5% against the corresponding quarter last year. unifi remains the largest growth contributor for the Group.
unifi will continue to maintain its leadership in fixed broadband and enhance its Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC), enriched with TV and streaming content. This reflects its commitment to improve its FMC customer experience with better and seamless service. unifi will also grow its SME digital platform as a one-stop service centre for solutions catering especially to SMEs nationwide.
TM Wholesale (TMW): Higher revenue from increased demand for data services
TM Wholesale (TMW) also recorded a growth performance for 1Q2022, with revenue increasing by 1.2% from RM631.9 million in 1Q2021 to RM639.5 million, mainly contributed by higher revenue from voice and data services. This was underpinned by increasing demand from High-speed Broadband Access (HSBA) and higher International Voice and Data.
To date, TMW continues to enable industry broadband and 4G network via its fibre infrastructure, with the ongoing 5G rollout further strengthening that role. On the international front, it will continue to serve other OTTs and hyperscalers with connectivity and data centres, while regionally, TM Wholesale aspires to establish Malaysia as a digital hub for ASEAN via new submarine cables, enhanced data centre solutions and edge computing.
TM One: Renewed focus on growing B2B digital solutions market
TM One, the Group's enterprise and public sector arm, recorded a 7.4% decrease in revenue from RM925.2 million to RM856.8 million in 1Q2022 due to decline in data services revenue.
Strengthening and growing its B2B digital solutions, TM One has focused its efforts on high potential industry verticals, namely healthcare, manufacturing, education, oil & gas, banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) and public sector. It has entered a partnership with Tune Protect and Huawei Malaysia that saw Tune Protect becoming the first organisation in Malaysia to host an insurance core system on public cloud (Cloud αEdge).
Commentary and Outlook from Imri Mokhtar, TM Group Chief Executive Officer
"With our economy and borders reopening, TM is powering Malaysia's journey on its road towards recovery, by ensuring the vision of an inclusive and extensive Digital Malaysia becomes a reality.
"Into the second year of our Transformation, we are focused on strengthening our core business while investing into new growth areas to meet customers' demands. In ensuring sustainability in the long run, we continue to grow our profitability to invest and seize opportunities arising from digital acceleration.
"One of these opportunities is in the exciting space of digital solutions and services for enterprises. Building on TM One's existing capability and relationships with enterprises and the public sector, we will deliver speed and agility through our new digital arm Credence: a corporate start-up led by technology leaders.
"unifi continues to better its fixed broadband and Fixed-Mobile Convergence value proposition to improve customer experience, while expanding our offerings to provide quality entertainment to customers at home or on-the-go.
"We have also achieved some key milestones in our sustainability efforts. TM One has successfully secured the Green Electricity Tariff from Tenaga Nasional Berhad for its data centres in Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya and Johor Bahru, contributing to a lower carbon footprint as the demand for cloud storage inevitably increases. This is in addition to the existing Green Building Index (GBI) certification earlier obtained for its core data centres. TM's broader ESG commitment also remains consistent with Malaysia's initiatives towards achieving net-zero Greenhouse Gas emission for the country by 2050.
"Meanwhile, TM Wholesale continues to establish Malaysia as a regional digital hub via new submarine cables, edge computing, data centres and supporting international connectivity. On the domestic front, TM Wholesale continues performing its role as the enabler for industry broadband, 4G and 5G network via fibre infrastructure that will transform the nation's connectivity capabilities."
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
TM's decision to exit menara KL concession
Telekom Malaysia Berhad ("TM" or "the Group") wishes to clarify that Menara KL ("MKL" or "Tower") is owned by the Government while the operations and maintenance of the tower is granted under a concession. TM via its wholly owned subsidiary, Menara Kuala Lumpur Sdn. Bhd. (MKLSB) had undertaken the concession since 1996. As part of its business transformation programme, TM is focusing its efforts and resources on strengthening its core business of telecommunications and technology. After due consideration on the change in the business nature of MKL, from telecommunications services to tourism and hospitality, TM has decided in October 2021 not to renew the MKL concession and informed the Government accordingly. Subsequently in 2022, the selection process of the new Concessionaire was then taken up by the Government upon which TM was informed on the appointed company to take over the shares of MKLSB and the MKL concession. MKLSB shall continue to operate the concession and ensure the continuity of MKL operations for the Malaysian public, including international visitors. Employees will remain employed with MKLSB under the new Concessionaire for a minimum period of 3 years. This is to ensure their welfare is protected in this transition. In TM’s 3Q 2022 financial announcement to Bursa Malaysia, a reference was made in the subsequent changes to shareholding in MKLSB. TM practices good governance and transparency in our business undertakings to preserve the interest of our customers and stakeholders. TM will provide our full cooperation and disclosures as required by the authorities. Building on our commitment to enable a Digital Malaysia, TM will continue to deliver the best telco and technology services for the community, businesses, Government and industry.
Yayasan TM, Teach For Malaysia and Enuma, inc. Bring “Sekolah Enuma” digital learning application to young students in malaysia
Offline learning tool a critical resource for parents and teachers in supporting the children especially those from underserved communities with limited access to the internet, computer devices and appropriate learning materials The pandemic and the ensuing movement restrictions have been very disruptive to students, in particular those forced to rely on online lessons but face limited access to the necessary tools and connectivity. To help address these learning challenges faced by over a million Malaysian students aged five (5) to eight (8), Yayasan TM (YTM), the foundation arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), is collaborating with Teach For Malaysia, a not-for-profit advocate for education and Enuma, Inc., a global company focused on digital learning programmes, to bring the Enuma School digital learning application to Malaysia. In this collaboration, YTM is sponsoring the field test of the localised version of the app, which will be known as Sekolah Enuma Malaysia, to 600 students in various communities in Sarawak, Sabah and Kuala Lumpur. Enuma School has been commercially successful in the B2C markets in the US, Korea, Japan, China and Indonesia. Its exceptional Kitkit School programme, winner of the prestigious USD15 million Global Learning XPRIZE (2019), has been used in over 50 countries through schools serving children in under-resourced environments. All its learning activities are carefully and meticulously mapped to specific learning objectives and support individualised learning paths depending on the current level of each student, so students can learn by themselves. This platform will greatly complement the current home-based teaching and learning (PdPR). Sekolah Enuma Malaysia was officially launched in a ceremony by Mohd Najib Ab Rahman, Director of Jabatan Pendidikan Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur together with Izlyn Ramli, Director of YTM; and Sooinn Lee, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Enuma, Inc. This virtual session was also joined by Chan Soon Seng, Chief Executive Officer of Teach For Malaysia. Commenting on this project, Izlyn Ramli said, "This collaboration is a natural extension of YTM's existing strong support for the education ecosystem especially in promoting digital learning among pre- and primary school students. It is also aligned with Telekom Malaysia Berhad's (TM) aspiration to enable Digital Malaysia while supporting the government's agenda in digital education transformation. This offline, game-based digital application will encourage and ease the learning of Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mathematics in a fun and interactive learning process". The Sekolah Enuma field test began on 28 March 2022, involving 600 students, the majority of whom comes from the B40 communities particularly in Kuala Lumpur, indigenous communities in Sarawak and stateless communities in Sabah. Meanwhile, Chan Soon Seng said that Teach For Malaysia is thrilled to work with YTM and Enuma to address the learning challenges faced by students, including those from underserved communities with limited access to internet, devices and appropriate learning materials. "We hope Sekolah Enuma will significantly help to close the equity gap in learning across all segments of society and increase each student's learning outcomes to meet the Ministry of Education's (MOE) goal for full basic literacy and numeracy by standard three," he added. Learning with the Sekolah Enuma app will facilitate and individualise the learning path for each student through in-app placement tests and check-in quizzes, so students learn at a level and pace that is just right for them. They learn through playing child-friendly games developed by seasoned designers which make learning fun, engaging, and self-directed. The app enables each student to learn independently and be the driver of their own learning journey. The standardised content, developed by global and local education experts, is aligned with the MOE curriculum. Accompanying the app is a web-based Learning Management System (LMS) that allows teachers and administrators to manage and track the performance and progress of the students using the app. "Our app contains thousands of learning activities, dozens of games, hundreds of child-friendly e-books and videos. Many are tailor-made based on Malaysian culture and values. It works on Android tablets and smartphones and does not require an internet connection once the app is downloaded," explained Enuma's Sooinn Lee. "Sekolah Enuma is particularly suitable to be used in remote locations and communities where there is a shortage of trained teachers as well as limited internet connectivity." Corporate partners and foundations keen to support the second phase of Sekolah Enuma, which is expected to be launched in Q4 2022, are encouraged to contact Yayasan TM, Teach For Malaysia, or Enuma, Inc. Schools and communities interested in participating in this next phase are also encouraged to do the same. For more information on Sekolah Enuma, please visit www.sekolahenuma.com
YB TEO NIE CHING LAUNCHES ASPIRE: A WOMEN’S ADVANCEMENT PROGRAMME AT TM’S INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY CELEBRATION
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) joined organisations worldwide to celebrate International Women’s Day, honouring the women of TM as well as all women spearheading innovation and technology. Supporting the United Nations’ efforts to recognise women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education, the event was themed DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality and was officiated by YB Teo Nie Ching, Deputy Minister of Communications & Digital. In addressing the event, YB Teo said, “Today marks a special occasion to celebrate the efforts and contributions of women from all walks of life and to recognise their role in families, workplaces and communities. This event hosted by TM also serves as a platform for the exchange of ideas and new perspectives about gender equality especially in today’s digital realities. “As Malaysia continues to advance digitally, more conversations are needed about enabling greater inclusion and diversity in the technology and digital sector. We must also drive on why it is fundamental to ensure equal opportunities for digital literacy and access to online resources, while increasing the protection of women and girls in digital spaces.” Echoing these sentiments about equality in the digital sector, Dato’ Imri Mokhtar, TM’s Group CEO explained, “As TM progresses towards becoming a human-centred TechCo, we believe that the most crucial element for our digital future is the growth and capabilities of our talents. “With 37% of our top level management being women, we are pleased to launch ASPIRE: A Women’s Advancement Programme by TM. This 1-year leadership development programme aims to cultivate a new generation of women leaders, and tap into their unique perspectives and experiences to enrich TM’s innovation and long-term sustainability.” With the first 30 high-performing employees already on-boarded in the programme, participants will be groomed to grow their professional image and personal branding, explore skills to lead, influence, negotiate and navigate today’s workplace, and gain opportunities to connect with peers, mentors and sponsors to enhance their future career progression. This new programme serves as the latest in TM’s ongoing efforts to empower women, including its efforts to support the wider community. This includes Yayasan TM (YTM), the foundation arm of TM, which offers scholarships that have benefitted high-performing students – with 49.5% of its current scholars studying in Malaysia and overseas made up of young women. At the same time, TM’s subsidiary Multimedia University recorded that 49.3% of its employed graduates were young women – a positive reflection in enabling equal opportunities for the next generation of game-changers. Tapping into the insights of current women game-changers, the event included panellists Dr Sumitra Nair, Head and Senior Vice President Strategy & Policy, MDEC; Yuki Aizawa, Country Director Malaysia Chapter, Women in Tech Global Movement; and Mariam Jaafar, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, Singapore. Moderated by TM’s Chief Human Capital Officer, Sarinah Abu Bakar – who is also serving as sponsoring mentor for the ASPIRE programme with Shanti Jusnita Johari, TM’s Chief Marketing Officer – the panel addressed issues such as the role of innovation and technology in empowering women and girls in Malaysia, the gap between urban and rural use of innovative technology, and the importance of women role models for today's youth. “Today’s event and the launch of ASPIRE are part of our continuous commitment to enriching the prosperity and livelihoods of our Warga TM, and across the nation and beyond. The success of TM’s transformation journey is anchored on our dedicated workforce, loyal customers and local communities. Therefore, we see it as our duty and obligation to empower the lives of our people and communities, ensure greater digital inclusion, and prepare them for excellence in the digitalised future,” Dato’ Imri Mokhtar concluded.
NEWSLETTER
Just drop your details and stay updated with the world of Telekom Malaysia. We promise – no spam!