KUALA LUMPUR: Announcing its financial performance for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022, Digi.com Bhd says it remains on track to return to service revenue growth as it focuses on higher-value prepaid subscribers and grows its postpaid subscription base.

       For the quarter under review, the telco reported a 3.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in prepaid revenue, which contributed towards an overall 2.2% y-o-y drop in service revenue to RM1.31bil.

       However, postpaid revenue, which was up 2.6% y-o-y on continued subscription growth and effective churn management, helped to partially offset the decline in service revenue.

       “Excluding the lower margin digital segment, the decline in service revenue narrowed marginally by 0.7% y-o-y, indicating steady progress towards the company’s ambition of returning to service revenue growth in 2022,” said Digi in a statement.

       Digi registered a 249,000 increase in postpaid subscribers to a total of 3.34 million while prepaid subscribers declined by 258,000 to 6.9 million for a blended average revenue per user of RM42 in the first quarter.

       For the quarter under review, Digi recorded a net profit of RM236.15mil, which was 10.9% lower than RM264.82mil in the year-ago quarter due to a temporary tax rate increase from the implementation of the Prosperity Tax.

       Overall revenue came to RM1.52bil, which was 1.8% lower y-o-y, attributed to normal seasonal patterns from higher year-end device sales.

       Its fibre segment maintained an upward trend with almost five times more subscribers y-o-y through strategic upselling activities.

       Meanwhile, its business subscriber base enlarged by 16.3% y-oy from supporting both small and medium enterprise and large enterprise customers with digitalisation solutions, strengthening the business community’s trust in the Digi Business brand and services.

       Digi further expanded its 4G LTE and LTE-A network coverage, which now serves 94% and 76.5% of populated areas nationwide, respectively, alongside an extensive fibre network of 10,316km across the nation.

       The board of directors declared a first interim dividend of 2.9 sen per share, going ex on May 30, 2022, and payable on June 24, 2022.

       “With more Covid-19-related restrictions lifted and borders reopening, we expect to see an increase in commercial and tourism activities that would drive demand for roaming services.

       “We continue to prioritise efforts to deliver to the expectations of our business and consumer customers from all segments – from providing quality connectivity and better digital experiences, offering products with greater value and flexibility, to deepening our responsible business commitments as we continue building a brand that customers have come to trust,” said acting CEO and chief marketing officer Praveen Rajan.