Malaysia-based mobile operator Maxis announced its CEO Morten Lundal (pictured) will step down when his contract expires on 31 March 2018.

Lundal took the helm in October 2013, when the operator had a 32 per cent market share and was the country’s second largest mobile player, marginally behind Celcom (32.7 per cent share). Maxis moved to the top position in Q4 2014 but has since slid.

The company said the board is searching for a successor.

Competition in the Malaysian market intensified over the past couple of years. Maxis slipped to the number two spot in Q3 2017, with its market share dropping to 27.4 per cent at end-September from 28.6 per cent a year ago.

Rival Digi moved into first in the July-September period with a 28.5 per cent share.

Maxis shed nearly 800,000 subscribers since Q3 2016, ending September with 11.3 million while Digi had 11.7 million after losing 140,000 year-on-year, according to GSMA Intelligence.

Number three Celcom Axiata also lost subscribers and market share over the same period, closing the quarter with 10.2 million subs (down by almost 1 million from Q3 2016) and a 24.7 per cent share (dropping 2.2 percentage points).

Half of Maxis’ subscribers are on 4G plans.