Telekom Malaysia (TM) blamed continued market challenges for flat revenue in its consumer business and a decline in enterprise sales in Q3, but its profit soared on lower costs.

Net profit in the quarter doubled to MYR538.2 million ($114.8 million), attributed to lower taxes and net finance costs. Operating revenue fell 2.6 per cent to MYR3.1 billion.

In the operator’s earnings release, TM CEO Amar Huzaimi highlighted gains in broadband and wholesale despite intensified competition, noting its push to offer quad-play converged services enabled it to expand its customer base.

As part of an internal restructuring, TM explained it consolidated its Unifi consumer business by merging different units. This included sales touch-points, products and customer experience which allowed it to offer converged bundles more easily.

Revenue under the Unifi brand, covering mobile and fixed broadband, was stable at MYR1.4 billion.

The operator didn’t disclose mobile subscribers numbers, but GSMA Intelligence estimated it ended September with 2 million subs, up 10.5 per cent year-on-year, behind Celcomdigi (20.6 million), Maxis (12.1 million) and U Mobile (8.2 million).

Fixed broadband subs increased 4.6 per cent to 3.1 million at end-September.

TM Global, the wholesale domestic and international business arm, recorded a 5 per cent increase in revenue to MYR769.9 million as a result of strong demand for data services.

Sales at its enterprise unit TM One fell 17 per cent to MYR712.5 million.

Capex for the first nine months of 2023 fell 4.7 per year-on-year to MYR1.4 billion, representing 15.1 per cent of total revenue, down from 15.9 per cent in 2022.