Malaysia-based Maxis declined to issue a financial outlook for 2021 due to uncertainties around the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, but remained cautiously optimistic for the year after profit and revenue fell in Q4 2020.

In a statement, CEO Gokhan Ogut said 2020 was “a challenging year for everyone. Our agility in meeting the demands of this unique environment has enabled us to continue to progress towards our convergence ambition”.

He added it will develop more innovative services beyond mobile and create “new opportunities for growth for businesses across industries”.

Net profit in Q4 declined 9.6 per cent year-on-year to MYR319 million ($78.7 million), which it said was in line with lower service revenue and continued investment in growth areas.

The pandemic put pressure on prepaid and roaming revenue, and slowed traffic to its retail points, but also created stronger demand for connectivity as a result of work from home arrangements and accelerated digitalisation by enterprises, it said.

Revenue fell 12.7 per cent to MYR2.26 billion, with mobile service down 6.1 per cent to MYR1.66 billion and device sales decreasing 48 per cent to MYR298 million.

Despite its post-paid subscriber base rising 4 per cent to 3.5 million, contract revenue slid 2.2 per cent to MYR967 million due to a decrease in the mobile termination rate and a lack of international roaming income. ARPU fell 7.8 per cent to MYR83.

Prepaid revenue dropped 11.1 per cent to MYR696 million, as subscribers decreased 4.4 per cent to 6 million and ARPU dropped 7.1 per cent to MYR39.

Enterprise revenue grew 33.6 per cent to MYR155 million and broadband sales increased 22.1 per cent to MYR127 million.

Average data usage increased 38.4 per cent to 20.75GB a month.

Full-year capex rose 2.6 per cent to MYR1.25 billion.