KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd posted a higher revenue in the third quarter, driven by higher new subscribers growth for its unifi services, but increased operating costs dented its earnings.

       The group's fixed broadband subscriber base saw three consecutive quarters of record breaking increase at 18.8% to 2.6 million at the end of September.

       Revenue in the three-month ended Sep 30 rose 4% to RM2.8bil from RM2.69bil a year ago.

       Net profit, however, declined 17.6% to RM271.2mil.

       Operating profits before finance cost was RM434.3mil for the quarter ended, down 5.5% from the RM459.8mil reported in the same quarter last year.

       This was mainly due to the increase in operating costs, which included provisions recognised in relation to the Group’s manpower optimisation initiatives.

       The current quarter also saw foreign exchange translation losses of RM12.5mil.