DiGi to focus on mobile business for now

Over the near-term, chief executive officer Henrik Clausen does not foresee DiGi going into fixed-lined broadband business

KUALA LUMPUR: DiGi.Com Bhd, the country's third largest mobile operator with more than 10 million customers, said it will focus on growing its mobile business and has no immediate plans to go into the fixed-line broadband services.

"It's a matter of priority. We believe the mobile space still has plenty of opportunities. Over the near-term, I do not foresee us going into that (fixed-lined broadband) business," DiGi chief executive officer Henrik Clausen told Business Times.

Currently, there are only a few players offering high-speed fixed-line broadband services in the country and they include Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Maxis Bhd and Packet One Networks Sdn Bhd.

Celcom Axiata Bhd, the country's second largest mobile operator, has voiced its interests to offer such services in the near-term.



It is understandable why mobile operators are interested in offering fixed-line broadband services - it can help to boost the operators' revenue stream and retain the customers through the offering of more services in bundled packages.

"It's not that customers will want to buy everything from one provider. At the end of the day, customers will go for the best provider for those particular services. We believe that we need to be the best in what we are doing and the best thing we can do is to deliver the best data experience," said Clausen.

"That's our differentiator."

Today, about half of DiGi's customer base are active data users. (What this means is that the customers use data services at least once a month).

On top of that, about 24 per cent of its customers are using a smartphone.

"In two to three years, we will approach a 50 per cent smartphone penetration rate in Malaysia," said Clausen, who added that he would not be surprised if half of DiGi's customer base are smartphone users by then.

The growth in the smartphone user base, driven mainly by the increasing number of available models as well as lower prices, is critical to DiGi's future revenue growth - as in most cases, smartphone users spend more each month.

In DiGi's case, its smartphone customers tend to spend about RM30 to RM40 more each month, compared to customers using the normal feature phones.

"With this growth in mind, it is critical that we give the best experience to our customers. Therefore, part of our strategy is to develop packages that are right for them.

"We have a full range of packages. Some allow our customers to try the data services for a limited time, such as daily packages. This prevents them from getting a bill shock," said Clausen.

"When they are more familiar with the data services, then they can sign up for the monthly packages," he added.

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