Axiata Group said in an exchange filing that quarterly revenue, however, rose 13 per cent year-on-year to RM5.31 billion ringgit from RM4.71 billion.

“The second quarter of 2016 delivered mixed results,” the Nikkei Asian Review (NAR) quoted Axiata Chief Executive Jamaluddin Ibrahim as saying.

“We are determined to remain on track on our strategies but we will need to considerably improve our execution,” he added.

Axiata, Malaysia’s largest telecom company by revenue, also has businesses in Malaysia, Indonesia and south Asian countries including India and Nepal.

During the second quarter, Axiata booked a net RM185.8 million foreign exchange loss and charges totalling RM1.39 billion mainly driven by higher depreciation in Indonesia as well as amortisation of intangible assets arising from an acquisition in Nepal, said the NAR report.

For its first six months, net profit fell 54 per cent to RM557.2 million compared with RM1.20 billion over the same period last year.

However, revenue rose 9.1 per cent to RM10.32 billion from RM9.46 billion in the preceding year’s corresponding period.

Axiata’s capital spending may exceed RM6 billion this year from the initial estimate of RM5.7 billion as the company competes for spectrum in Indonesia and budgets for bandwidth fees in Malaysia, Jamaluddin said.

Axiata is also seeking to expand its tower unit Edotco Group that currently owns and manages about 16,800 telecommunications towers across Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Jamaludin said Edotco hoped to build and acquire about 10,000 towers between three and five years.

Axiata plans to list Edotco by 2018, said the NAR report.