As a mobile connectivity and internet services provider with long-standing history in Malaysia, Digi.Com Bhd (Digi) has an ambition to ensure that the group maximises on the opportunity of internet and data growth.
Chief executive officer Albern Murty revealed in an exclusive interview that Digi recorded double digit growth in postpaid in 2017 which started off on the strategy that the group was going to move towards the larger base of focus for postpaid’s distribution.
In addition, Digi, which comes from a very strong prepaid base, took up position in the third quarter of 2017 (3Q17) and ended the year as the largest operator in terms of subscribers.
“We wanted to move then into maximising the opportunities that both the internet growth, trends that users are looking at, and then of course, to add digital services into that picture.
“This is also the same thing that we are going to do moving into 2018 which is really to dominate the data internet boom and then to capture the digital service position in 2018,” Murty told BizHive Weekly.
“Part of that is, as I said will be very important for us, is the postpaid growth. We’ve also seen very good postpaid growth in East Malaysia – both in Sarawak and Sabah.
“Most of that is coming from our own base of prepaid customers maturing, moving from traditional voice-SMS into data and then now, moving onto commitment plans as commitment plans are both made more affordable but also much more relevant to their lifestyle.”
Shift towards new offerings
Digi noted in a management and discussion analysis for 3Q17 that its relentless focus to deliver robust internet experience fuelled internet revenue growth of 8.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 15.6 per cent year-on-year.
The group went on to highlight that its internet and digital-based offerings supported better monetisation and internet revenue growth, paving the way for 1.6 per cent higher sequential service revenue with all-time high postpaid revenue and stabilised sequential prepaid revenue.
With these digital services, Digi started to shift the way it served its customers, rather than relying on physical channels and contact centres.
“We’ve also moved a lot of our customers interacting with us on our digital platforms,” Murty added. “Started off on the web, our Digi Store Online, but also now on MyDigi, where we have close to 2.3 million customers using that service both for self-help but also now for rewards and running their own usage needs.
“For example, when they run out of quota or when they want to do a reload top-up, transfer for family or pay bills and so on, so forth. MyDigi’s becoming both a lifestyle app but also a self-serving app, that’s something that we did in 2017.
“We will continue to develop new features (for MyDigi) going into 2018.”
The CEO stressed that Digi will continuously take on and work with partners either on digital services or on services that are relevant for its end users.
“We’ve always been known as an innovative player in the past and even the last couple of years, we’ve been showing that we have been able to innovate in spite of the intense competition in the marketplace,” he said.
“That will continue and these are the areas where we will continuously differentiate oursevles both in making the core part of the business – connectivity – affordable and continue (enhancing) customer experience on data but at the same time, choosing key partners that we will take services out to the market that is relevant.”
Murty believed that Digi has the right mix of both postpaid and prepaid offerings in the market and reach to customers, both physically and in digital stores, and in terms of availablity for customers to be able to enjoy the best offers in the market.
“Going into 2018, the data growth is not going to slow down. Data growth is going to continue and I also think that consumers and trends will drive that, not just us.
“I think there will be much more affordable devices on 4G coming out in the market and we need to assume that customers won’t stop using data overnight.
“I think data is going to be continuously required so we have a huge opportunity to serve those customer and to monetise that,” he said.
Drawing strengths from 900 Mhz allocation
Mid-2017 saw Digi taking on the 900 megahertz (MHz) position with the spectrum made available to the group from July last year and rolling out both the 4G LTE and 4G Plus LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network to more rural areas of Malaysia.
Beginning July 1, Digi switched on its new 900MHz spectrum, which allows mobile phone signals to reach further from base stations to offer wider coverage, and it brings the telco’s consistent, high speed 4G Plus network to more topographically challenging parts of Malaysia such as Sarawak.
According to Digi, the 900MHz spectrum allows mobile phone signals to reach further from base stations to offer wider coverage. The group also noted that mobile signal on the new 900MHz spectrum not only reach further from base stations, but also penetrate walls better to offer stronger indoor coverage.
As of 3Q17, Digi continued to take leadership position on LTE-A network with coverage expanding to 49 per cent of population nationwide.
“Our 4G LTE network alongside with new LTE 900Mhz capabilities reached 87 per cent of population to deliver better indoor 4G coverage,” the group said.
Latest statistics from Digi revealed that in building a network that supports East Malaysia’s increasing demand for more data, 4G LTE now reaches 74 per cent of the population in Sarawak while its faster 4G Plus (LTE-A) network covers 37 per cent of populated areas in the state.
“The 900MHz is very important for us because it allowed us to really take coverage, especially in markets like Sarawak and Sabah, but also in Peninsular, where we can leverage and make sure that we have broader coverage on 4G and also penetrate into buildings,” Murty explained.
Digi highlighted in the management and discussion analysis for 3Q17 that the solid development on 4G Plus network significantly improved market perception of its network while actively driving internet revenue growth, with subscribers’ average monthly data usage increasing almost two times to 6GB from a year ago.
Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/2018/01/07/digi-on-the-go-in-2018/