After going through a tumultuous three years with declining revenue, Celcom has now turned its fortunes recording a full year of rise in its overall performance in 2017.
The highly competitive prepaid mobile plan landscape has not been kind to the telco over the yeas losing a large track of customer base to newer entrants who offer lower packages and higher data. Celcom which has one of the most extensive network coverage was not quick to react and as consequence lost a substantial of number in this segment. With a complete restructuring and change in management, Celcom is turning things around and the results are encouraging, the company recorded improvements on its revenue chalking RM1.7 billion in Q4 an increase of over 7%. In its Transactional Net Promoter Scores (tNPS) improved in retail to 68 points, compared to 66 in the past quarter, and up from 58 in Q3 2016. Further improvements into Q1 2018 are already visible partly contributed by the new look and feel of Celcom Bluecube shops, introduced within the quarter to provide an exciting walk-in experience on top of the excellent retail service it offers. Celcom aims to have 60-80% of its bluecube stores refreshed by end of 2018.
Data consumption also showed steady increase of 17.5% to 8.5GB per month per active data user, compared to 7.2GB in the previous quarter. The increase was driven by a higher smartphone penetration from 72% in Q317, to 74%. Postpaid business delivered a robust performance with an improvement in average revenue per user (ARPU) of RM3 to RM87, led by higher value plan subscriptions and monetization efforts.
Michael Kuehner, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom Axiata Berhad attributed the growth to the strong focus on customer experience and improvements in major revenue generating turnaround elements and key functional areas such as sales and distribution, network and products.
During the media briefing held in Nusajaya today, Michael said, “The improved result for this quarter signifies the steadfast progress for Celcom’s turnaround and we are gradually regaining our position in the market.”
The telco currently has achieved an expansion of its 4G and LTE-A population coverage to 87% and 74%. Among the many Celcom initiatives that contributed further in driving its positive growth within the quarter were its new prepaid plans for Xpax and free video offerings.
