by MARK RAO/FILE PIX

Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s (TM) net profit soared 79.5% year-on-year (YoY) to RM 277.01 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31 last year (4Q17), as a result from the foreign exchange (forex) gains recognised from group borrowings.

Revenue for the leading telecommunications provider in Malaysia, however, marginally slipped by 1.2% to RM3.2 billion due to the decline in turnover from its voice, TM One and TM Global services which were offset by the Unifi business.

Revenue from the Unifi segment rose by 3.1% YoY to RM1.36 billion due to the higher customer base for home and small and medium enterprises customers which grew to 1.1 million users from the 931,701 in 4Q16.

Higher number of buys for Premium Channels and Video-on-Demand coupled with the continued increase unifi Mobile’s customer base also positively contributed to this segment.

Meanwhile, TM One noted lower revenue on reduced contributions from voice and data services, while TM Global was down on telecommunication services.

For the 2017 fiscal year (FY17), TM improved its net profit by 19.8% YoY to RM929.75 million on forex gains from group borrowings, while revenue was flat at RM12.08 billion – up by 0.2% from the RM12.06 billion in FY16.

The flattish performance was attributable to the decline registered across all revenue lines excluding internet and multimedia services.

TM One was down on lower revenue generated from voice, data and other telecommunication services, while TM Global’s revenue base declined on lower data and services turnover.

The Unifi segment brought in RM5.33 billion in revenue in FY17, up by 4% YoY in line with its customer base increasing to 1.1 million users coupled with higher number of buys for unifi TV content and subscribers for mobility services.

TM declared a 12.10 sen dividend in 4Q17 which is to be paid to shareholders on April 13 this year.