KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd is targeting to double its mobile broadband customer base to one million subscribers by 2010 as it moves to install more transmission towers towards improving coverage and service.

Its chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly, said on Friday, Dec 4 that the group was maintaining its leadership in the mobile broadband segment with a subscriber base of 475,000 now.

“This number showed that we are on track to hitting our target of 500,000 subscribers by year-end,” he said at a media briefing on the group’s financial results for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2009 (F3QFY09). For 2010, Shazally said mobile broadband would be the company's major focus.

He said a total of 199 additional transmission towers would be roll out in 2010 in order towards enhancing its 3G and broadband service network throughout Malaysia.

“We had rolled out some of the towers in the past few months,” he said, adding that most of the towers, both indoor and outdoor, would be located in the Klang Valley.

On its F3QFY09 performance, Shazalli said the robust increase on all fronts of its financial results was driven primarily by aggressive promotional campaigns for the festive season.

“The number of subscribers’ growth by 5% q-o-q and 23% in terms of year-on-year had surpassed the 10 million marks,” he said.

Celcom posted its highest ever quarterly earnings in F3QFY09, with a net profit of RM404 million, representing a 10% growth from the previous quarter, while revenue grew 4.5% to RM1.61 billion from RM1.54 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITA) rose 5% to RM716 million from RM682 million.

Year-on-year, Celcom's net profit rose 23.5% from RM327 million in 3QFY08, while revenue rose 13.4% from RM1.42 billion.