Communications and multimedia industry market cap hits RM144.01b in 2019

KUALA LUMPUR, 16 May 2020 – The Malaysian communications and multimedia (C&M) industry performed well in 2019 with an overall market capitalisation of RM144.01 billion or 8.4% of the total market capitalisation of Bursa Malaysia.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said of the total, RM134.01 billion came from the telecommunications sector, RM7.29 billion from the broadcasting sector and RM2.71 billion from the postal and courier sector.

According to the MCMC’s statistics, the total value marked an increase of RM6.28 billion or 4.56% from RM137.73 billion in 2018.

“The statistics also show that the C&M industry generated a revenue of RM43.37 billion with the telecommunications sector being the biggest contributor, accounting for 80.2% or RM34.8 billion (in the year under review),” MCMC said in a statement today.

The broadcasting sector was the second highest contributor at 13.6% (RM5.88 billion), followed by the postal and courier sector at 6.2% (RM2.69 billion).

Capital expenditure for the telecommunications sector was recorded at RM4.6 billion in the previous year and of the amount, RM2.97 billion was used for mobile services capital while RM1.63 billion for fixed services capital.

“Most of the capital expenditure was used to upgrade the mobile and optical fibre networks to enhance their capacity and quality, while enabling the telecommunications sector to provide the best service to customers,” he said.

Of the total broadband subscriptions, 43.38 million were recorded in 2019, of which, 2.95 million were for fixed broadband subscriptions, an increase of 10.9% compared to 2.26 million in the previous year.

Meanwhile, mobile broadband subscriptions increased by 9.9% to 40.42 million (36.79 million in 2018), and for residential areas, 3G coverage was 95.5% in 2019 (94.7% in 2018).

The 4G LTE coverage stood at 82.2% in 2019 (79.7% in 2018).

During the Movement Control Order period, broadband usage rates were high, and recognising this fact, the government provided several special packages, including 1GB of free internet daily under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) unveiled on March 27.

Meanwhile, the 5G technology, which is being implemented is expected to change the level of connectivity and become an important variable in the country’s economy, hence, would holistically affect the lives of people, businesses and the government.

– Bernama