In the same quarter in the previous financial year, the company chalked up a net profit of RM312.82 million.
Another factor that has led to the decline is a rise in net finance costs, the company said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
Revenue went down to RM1.53 billion from RM1.58 billion previously while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) contracted by 4.9% amid a challenging market as the Jaringan Prihatin (JP) programme came to an end.
Increased investments in information technology and network modernisation, inflationary pressures and non-recurring merger-related costs also weighed down on income.
Excluding one-off effects, normalised Ebitda contracted 3.5% year-on-year as ongoing efficiency initiatives and better credit management more than compensated for inflationary pressures, it said.
The telecommunications company said total service revenue declined by 1.8% despite robust growth in its postpaid, business-to-business (B2B) and fibre segments.
“The encouraging total subscriber base additions of 358,000 to 10.72 million further compensated for the impact of the end of JP, which peaked in Q3 2021 and subsequently ended in Q3 2022.
“Postpaid grew 1.3%, alongside 12.4% B2B revenue growth on our strong value proposition that supports the accelerating digitalisation needs of Malaysian businesses,” it said.
In contrast, prepaid revenue was down 6.7% as the recent strong recovery of the migrant segment was unable to compensate for the impact of the end of the JP programme.
Digi said the Juara Internet Malaysiaku campaign and the launch of its new Prepaid Unlimited products yielded a higher active prepaid subscriber base for both the Malaysian and migrant segments, bringing total prepaid subscribers to 7.30 million, up 177,000.
For the nine-month period, net profit dropped to RM720.67 million from RM857.55 million, while revenue stood at RM4.59 billion versus RM4.75 billion previously.
Acting CEO and chief marketing officer Praveen Rajan said Digi sees continued demand for mobile services across all segments.
“Looking ahead, with macro-economic uncertainties such as risks of a global recession weighing down on the market, we will remain disciplined in cost management, while continuing to invest in strategic growth areas, network improvements, and modernisation agenda,” he said in a statement.
Praveen said discussions related to 5G access agreements with relevant parties are progressing well, and the company is looking forward to completing the proposed Celcom-Digi merger this year.