XL passes Celcom as Axiata's biggest earner

Nicole McCormick
31 May 2010
00:00

Indonesian cellular outfit XL has become the Axiata’s biggest contributor to the bottom-line, overtaking traditional cash cow Celcom as the main ebitda earner.

XL, 68.5%-owned by Axiata, contributed 46% of the company’s ebitda, more than Malaysian operator Celcom’s 43% contribution.

XL’s revenue and ebitda increased 42% and 92% year on year respectively, benefiting from cost controls and strong take-up of its new voice-SMS-data bundled offers.

“We’ve managed to grow our revenue three fold in the past four years with a revenue market share of 18% currently, closing the gap with Indosat,” XL president director Hasnul Suhaimi toldthe Star.

Malaysian-based Axiata reported a 52% yearly increase in ebitda to RM1.68 billion ($515.34 million), on 31% higher revenue of RM3.81 billion.

Net profit jumped from RM63.9 million to RM921 million, helped by a RM307.3 million net gain from its sale of a 20% stake in XL and RM173 million gain following the merger of Spice and Idea in India.

Excluding these and forex gains, net profit still increased by more than 100%.

Axiata’s pan-Asian mobile subscriber base grew 37% to 130 million, with businesses outside Malaysia contributing 56% of revenue compared with 49% a year ago.

In Malaysia, Celcom delivered a 15% revenue growth and a 16% ebitda growth.

Celcom is currently the market leader in mobile broadband, with 635,000 subs, up from 306,000 in Q1 last year.

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