M1's net profit slumps 20.8% to $32.5m in Q2

Blame the higher depreciation and interest expense.

Singapore telco M1 suffered headaches once again as its net profit decreased by 20.8% in the quarter ending in June, down to $32.5m from the preceding quarter's net profit of $41.0m.

This has led to the 17.6% fall in its half-year net profit of $68.8m. According to the group, this was partly driven by higher depreciation and interest expense.

For the said quarter, M1's fibre customer base grew 8,000 to 176,000. Following the shutdown of its 2G network in April 2017, customers who were previously on 2G data were migrated to the telco's M2M (machine-to-machine) platform. 

Consequently, total mobile customer base decreased 2,000 in the quarter to 2.04 million, and mobile churn rate was higher at 1.7%.

The group also noted that its average postpaid smartphone data usage grew to 3.9GB per month in 2Q17, from 3.3GB per month a year ago.

Additionally, mobile data contribution increased 1.5 percentage points year-on-year to 55.5% of service revenue in the latest quarter.

“M1 is well positioned to capture new opportunities presented by the digital economy. We have been investing in NB-IoT network and digital solutions, and expanded our offerings to include managed infrastructure services, cyber security, business solutions and analytics. This would enable us to better serve our customers and generate new revenue streams for future growth,” said M1 CEO Karen Kooi.