Maxis profit up, Telekom down

Maxis says it now has more than 3 million subscribers Story Tools

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Reuters) -- Malaysia's number one mobile phone firm Maxis Communications has reported a 58 percent rise in 2002 earnings, helped by double-digit subscriber growth.

Maxis, controlled by tycoon Ananda Krishnan, posted a net profit on Thursday of 949.7 million ringgit ($250 million) for the year to end-December, up from 600.9 million ringgit in 2001.

The result was better than analysts' expectations. Revenue was up 24 percent to 3.77 billion ringgit.

The Maxis result is in sharp contrast to that of national telco Telekom Malaysia, which reported on Thursday that its 2002 profit fell, as growth in its fixed-line business slowed.

Telekom reported a net profit of 1.06 billion ringgit ($279 million), compared with a profit of 1.81 billion in 2001 when it booked a one-off 800 million ringgit gain from the sale of a stake in Thailand's Digital Phone Co.

Its mobile phone arm made its first profit, while it booked no major gains from asset sales.

Telekom has a near monopoly over fixed-line connections in Malaysia, deriving more than 80 percent of its turnover from land-line business.

To counter the slowdown in the fixed-line market, Telekom has set in motion plans to takeover number two mobile services firm, Celcom (Malaysia).

It plans to merge its TM Cellular unit with Celcom, a move that will create Malaysia's largest mobile group, with about 40 percent share of the cellular market's 8.6 million users.

Maxis, which is the last of Malaysia's five telecoms firms to be listed, made its July debut after a 3.05 billion ringgit initial public offering, the country's biggest share sale since the 1997-98 Asian crisis.

Maxis said it added 800,000 new subscribers in 2002 to boost its total to 3.09 million by the year-end.

For the October-December quarter, Maxis posted a net profit of 243.0 million ringgit, compared with 102.8 million ringgit in the same period a year earlier.

Maxis shares closed unchanged at at 5.40 ringgit on Thursday. Telekom Malaysia was 7.90 ringgit, down slightly from Wednesday's close of 7.95 ringgit..

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