Maxis likely to be main beneficiary of fixed number portability: AmInvestment
Published on: Saturday, July 31, 2021
By: Bernama
Kuala Lumpur: AmInvestment Bank Bhd believes Maxis Bhd would be the main beneficiary of fixed number portability (FNP), a plan which is currently reviewed by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to allow landline subscribers to change their telecommunication service providers and retain their existing phone numbers by the end of 2022.The research house said the plan is positive for cellular operators without last-mile fibre connectivity and are currently offering bundled services with fixed broadband options.
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“In our view, other than Maxis, which has a significant market share of 465,000 fibre subscribers versus Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s ™ two million currently, the other incumbent cellular operators currently offer such bundled options only in selected locations in the country.
“As such, we believe that Maxis would be the main beneficiary of the FNP given its much stronger mobile market position versus TM’s unifi mobile,” it said in a note Friday.
Notwithstanding TM’s weak cellular market position, AmBank Research said the upcoming 5G rollouts could level off the current 2G/4G service coverage disparity between unifi mobile and other more established cellular incumbents, shifting the competitive advantage to TM.
“For now, we maintain our forecasts for TM and Maxis given that FNP is scheduled to commence in financial year 2023 onwards,” it added.
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The research house believes that 5G marketing campaigns are likely to follow fixed broadband models in offering unlimited data limited by speed caps, which will depend on the evolution of the ecosystem involving the innovation of new applications, devices and content.
It also believes that consumers would benefit as FNP would significantly improve the competitive landscape and accelerate innovation across the nation.
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Overall, AmInvestment Bank has maintained its “overweight” rating on the telecommunication sector given the consolidation synergies for the two cellular operators, which could partly alleviate intense price competition.
“We reiterate our ‘buy’ call for TM, which has shown significant cost improvements together with compelling dividend yields,” it said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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