Axiata Allocates Up To US$1.49 Billion Capex For Current Financial Year

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 (Bernama) -- Telecommunication provider, Axiata Group Bhd, has set aside a slightly higher allocation of up to US$1.49 billion (RM6 billion) for capital expenditure (capex) for the current financial year ending Dec 31, 2016 against US$1.41 billion (RM5.7 billion) allocated last year. Managing Director/President and Group Chief Executive Officer Jamaludin Ibrahim said the capex would be used mainly to expand long-term evolution (LTE) services in Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. "We are ramping up our network quality especially in regards to 4G in all these countries (Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh)," he told reporters after announcing the group's second quarter financial results here Thursday. The total capex, however, excluded the payment of spectrum fees, he said. Explaining further, Group Financial Officer Chari TVT said of the total capex, some RM1.5 billion would be spent in Malaysia, slightly higher than the RM850 million spent on operations here last year. "We got a little delayed in the Klang Valley because we were making significant changes but we will surely invest a sizeable amount of money to get the best network in the area," he said. Commenting on the expansion of Axiata's telecommunication infrastructure service arm, edotco, Jamaludin said the group aimed to add at least 10,000 telecommunication towers in the region within three to five years, an effort to achieve its vision of becoming among the top-five tower companies globally by 2020. He said the additional towers would be added through an organic build up as well as acquisition of existing towers. "Some of the acquisitions we do not know yet. Nothing imminent," he said. edotco Group's portfolio spans across five markets in Asia namely Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Jamaludin said the group was in the process of starting up operations in Pakistan and planned to expand the service in the country by organic growth of telecommunication towers. For now, the group had no plans for any tower acquisition, he said, adding that there could be a significant increase in data portfolio given the huge untapped telecommunication market in Pakistan. "The industry is in its infancy stage of ramping up data so we are going take advantage of that," he added. --BERNAMA