Malaysia’s largest mobile operator Maxis expanded its 4G user base to 2.4 million in Q3 and now accounts for almost half of the country’s 4G connections, as its network coverage reached 55 per cent of the population.

The operator said it added 1.5 million 4G users over the past year, giving it a 46.5 per cent share of the 4G market – up from 35 per cent a year ago.

It boosted Q3 capex 6.5 per cent to MYR359 million ($84.9 million) and claimed its 4G services cover 95 per cent of the population in key market centres and 60 per cent of all state capitals. A year ago its 4G network covered 20 per cent of the population.

Two weeks ago rival Digi said its 4G service reached 50 per cent of the population. It had about 240,000 4G users in Q3.

Despite subscribers gains, Maxis’ net profit for Q3 fell 6.4 per cent to MYR422 million, which the company attributed to unrealised forex losses from the falling ringgit, which has dropped 22 per cent since the beginning of the year. Its normalised EBITDA, which excludes the unrealised forex losses, rose almost 3 per cent to MYR1.11 million.

Total revenue for the quarter ending 30 September was up 4.8 per cent year-on-year to MYR2.17 billion. A 5.3 increase in service revenue to MYR2.16 million was driven by an 8.4 per cent gain in prepaid revenue. Postpaid revenue rose just 1.2 per cent.

Its customer base rose 5 per cent from a year ago to 11.95 million. The gain came entirely from prepaid segment, which was up by 730,000, while its postpaid base fell slightly.

Blended ARPU was down 3.6 per cent MYR53, with prepaid ARPU slipping 2.5 per cent. But postpaid ARPU rose 3.1 per cent from a year ago.

Mobile data traffic jumped 67 per cent year-on-year, and 4G users accounted for 15 per cent of total data traffic. The average data consumption for a 4G user was 2.3GB per month.

For the full year it expects EBITDA to remain at the same level as last year and service revenue to grow at a low single-digit rate. The company said it plans to boost capex for the full year to MRY1.2-1.3 billion.