TM's regional mobile customer base grows to 26.5 million

MOBILE MARKET: Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM), an emerging leader in Asian communications with operations in nine Asian countries, recorded an impressive growth of 63 percent in regional mobile subscriber numbers in its third quarter financial results as of end September 2006 to 26.5 million from 16.3 million a year ago.

With Asia home to some of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world, TM's focused and committed strategy to strengthen its role as a strategic investor in markets such as Indonesia, India, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and at the same time, build strong domestic brands, continues to bring dividends to TM. TM is present in Sri Lanka through its 87.7 percent stake in Dialog Telekom Limited.

"We continue to post strong, consistent growth in our overseas operations. In Indonesia and India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, TM is well positioned to offer vast resources to drive expansion in these countries which are already considered as some of the fastest growing mobile markets in Asia," TM Group Chairman as well as Chairman of TM's international investments holding arm TM International Radzi Mansor, said at the sidelines of the ITU's Telecom World Event in Hong Kong.

TM, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, attributes this significant growth in the telecommunications sector in Asia to pent-up demand for communications services in emerging countries throughout the region, fast liberalization of the industry, as well as improving economic growth which in turn boosts the Asian population base's purchasing power.

Radzi says TM subsidiaries' willingness to inject more funds into marketing activities and rolling out innovative products and services in high-growth markets such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Cambodia are also reaping returns for TM.

The bulk of TM's capital expenditure this year has been allocated to growing its operations in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Cambodia.

TM has a string of subsidiaries in Asia where it has substantial equity control over several key mobile operators such as Sri Lanka's Dialog Telekom Limited (87.7 percent), Indonesia's Excelcomindo/XL (59.7 percent), Bangladesh's TM International Bangladesh/AKTEL (70 percent) and Cambodia's TM International Cambodia (TMIC)/Hello015&016 (100 percent).

TM which is an emerging leader in the Asian communications space is pleased with the progress of its international operations. TM via its local subsidiaries holds market leadership positions in key markets it is in.

In the last 5 years, its Sri Lankan subsidiary Dialog Telekom has moved to the number 1 spot, whilst its Bangladesh subsidiary TMIB has captured the number 2 position. Both its Indonesian as well as Cambodian operations are in number 3 position.

Dialog Telekom Limited An ISO 9001:2000 certified company, Dialog Telekom is a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia. It operates a 2.5 G GSM Network supporting the very latest in multimedia and mobile Internet services.

Its local coverage spans all nine provinces while international roaming is provided in 190+ countries. Dialog Telekom is the largest and fastest growing cellular service in Sri Lanka and serves a subscriber base in excess of 2.8 million Sri Lankans.