Telekom Malaysia's profit up 174 percent in Q2

Telekom Malaysia (TM) has reported a profit of 348.5 million ringgit (US$111.5 million) in the second quarter of 2012 due to growth in Internet and multimedia-related services. This helped the telco achieve 9.7 percent year-on-year growth in group revenue for the first half of this year, it states. 

In its filing with the Bursa Malaysia, formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, on Wednesday, the telco said the profit jump for the three months ended Jun. 30 represented a 174 percent year-on-year growth. The improved performance was due to higher revenue, revision in depreciation costs of its network assets, and deferred tax income which partially offset the foreign exchange loss on borrowings, it stated.

Elaborating, it noted that group revenue for the quarter increased 8.6 percent year-on-year from 2.2 billion ringgit (US$715 million) to 2.4 billion ringgit (US$776 million). This was attributed to higher contribution from Internet and multimedia services, as well as other telecommunications- and non-telecommunications-related services, the company noted.

With these results, TM announced its first half financial earnings also saw a 9.7 percent on-year increase in group revenue from 4.4 billion ringgit (US$1.4 billion) to 4.8 billion ringgit (US$1.5 billion). 

"We're happy to note that TM continues to progress well financially and operationally--producing an all-round positive set of solid results. Our performance in the first six months is very encouraging and reflective of the momentum we have built through our ongoing transformation initiatives," said Dato' Sri Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, group CEO of TM.

The telco is in the midst of transforming itself from a fixed-line voice and data provider to a "new generation communications provider" through new services such as broadband and IPTV.