Telekom Malaysia lifts 3Q profit


Mobile phone services are on the increase in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNN) -- The sale of its half-share in a Thai mobile phone company lifted net profit for Malaysia's State-owned telco Telekom Malaysia to $412 million (1.566 billion ringgit) for the nine months ended September, the company said.

In July, Telekom Malaysia sold its 49.99 percent stake in Digital Phone Co of Thailand for $245 million to Shin Digital, part of the Shin communications group founded by Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

It said it made an exceptional gain of $218 million (827.8 million ringgit) on the sale.

Telekom Malaysia said revenue for the first nine months of the year was up 10 percent to $1.89 billion (7.175 billion ringgit).

Net profit for the third quarter, which took in the Digital Phone Co sale, was just under $292 million (1.108 billion ringgit).

Voice remains the big revenue source

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Telekom Malaysia attributed the revenue increase mainly to growth in its cellular and data services. Voice telephony continued to be the biggest source, providing 66 percent of sales.

The company said it now had a fixed-line customer base of 4.688 million, up 1.2 percent from nine months ago, while "robust" growth in its mobile phone service had lifted its customer base to 1.232 million.

It said it now had about 70 percent of the Internet access business in Malaysia, with a customer base of 1.2 million.

Telekom Malaysia chief executive Khir Abdul Rahman said that despite Malaysia's steeper economic decline in the third quarter, the company's performance was "positive". Barring unforeseen circumstances, he said the board was optimistic about the remaining quarter of 2001.