“Revenue, however, declined 0.9% to RM3.15 billion from RM3.18 billion previously,” said the telco in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

In a statement, CelcomDigi said that focus on providing better value for customers through refreshed 4G and 5G plans and converged offerings led to healthy postpaid and Home and Fibre subscriber growth, bringing its total subscribers to 20.5 million, an increment of 174,000 year-on-year.

It said the telco is ahead of schedule on its network integration and modernisation programme to build Malaysia’s leading digital network, with over 7,200 sites modernised as at end-April 2024.

“These efforts have improved overall network experience – more than 80% of customers in post-consolidation areas have experienced improvements in signal quality and network throughput, delivering average nationwide download speeds at above 67Mbps,” it said.

It is anticipated that by end-June 2024 it will cross the 50% completion mark in seven states, and would have completed the exercise in Penang.

Its CEO Idham Nawawi said the Q1 FY2024 underlying performance was resilient, as it maintained a steady core revenue while sustaining growth on subscriber base and improving profitability.

“In this second year of operation post-merger, our focus is on building strong fundamentals for the future to achieve profitable growth, leveraging technology and competencies.

“We continue to step up transformation and integration activities on all fronts and remain steadfast in delivering best-in-class customer experiences, powered by a progressive and efficient organisation,” he said.

The company has declared a first interim dividend of 3.5 sen per share, equivalent to the payout in the fourth quarter of 2023 (Q4 FY2023) of RM411 million, in line with its sustainable dividend commitment to shareholders.

As at 3.20pm, CelcomDigi’s share price was down by five sen or 1.23% at RM4.03, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM47.3 billion.