Alex Sinaga
Analyst · Bank of America
Thank you, Andi. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our conference call for the first quarter 2017 results. We really appreciate your participation in this call.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the first quarter 2017, Telkom continued its strong momentum by delivering remarkable performance, recorded triple-double-digit growth in revenue, EBITDA and net income of 12.6%, 14.7% and 45.8% year-on-year, respectively. We were also able to maintain a healthy level of profitability with EBITDA margin of 54.2%, improved from 53.2% last year; and income margin and -- 21.6%, better than 16.7% last year.
Data, Internet & IT Services was the engine of growth. It jumped 25.4%, with contribution to total revenue reaching 41.6%, increased from 37.4% last year.
On the expense side, our total expense only increased by 3.1%, in line with manageable operations and maintenance and a couple of one-off cost items in the first quarter last year. Operating and maintenance expense grew by 8.5%, lower than revenue growth. Operating and maintenance expense growth was in line with the continuous infrastructure deployment, both in cellular and fixed line businesses, in an effort to grow Digital Business. Operation and maintenance accounted for 44.8% of total expenses.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the mobile business, our Telkomsel continued its strong performance in the first quarter of 2017 by delivering another triple-double-digit growth in revenue, EBITDA and income of 10.4%, 13% and 17.8% year-on-year, respectively. This solid performance was a result of continuous effort in growing Digital Business as the engine of growth as well as a successful strategy in maintaining Legacy business performance, in particular, POTS. The revenue growth was driven by Digital Business, which increased by 22.5% year-on-year. It consists of data service, which increased by 21.3%; and digital service which jumped 34.8% year-on-year.
Digital Business accounted for 37.7% of total revenues, increased from 34% a year ago. Voice revenue was still growing by 11.1% despite lower voice traffic as a result of successful execution of advanced cluster-based pricing strategy and successful migration of customer from Pay As You Use to package. In SMS, however, we saw revenue decline by 15.1% due to cannibalization from Over the Top services.
Profitability improved in line with manageable costs. EBITDA and net income margin were higher by 1.4 points and 2.2 points to 59.2% and 34.5%, respectively.
Telkomsel recorded total subscriber base of 169.4 million as of March 2017, an increase of 10.3% year-on-year amid the saturated SIM card penetration, which was attributed to effective sales and marketing programs.
During the first quarter of 2017, we deployed 7,060 new BTSs, all of which were 3G and 4G BTSs to ensure the customer experience in data service. We will continue our strategy to provide leading network supply as data traffic growth is very high. Our data traffic increased by 115.5%, fueled by fast-growing 3G and 4G capable device adoption that already reached 83.8 million or 49.5% of our customer base. By end of March 2017, our BTS on-air reached 136,073 (sic) [ 136,093 ] units and 23.1% growth year-on-year, and 63% of which were 3G and 4G BTSs.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the fixed line business, IndiHome recorded total subscribers of 1.78 million, representing 32% growth year-on-year. And IndiHome Netizen, a dual-play service that we launched in December 2016, saw strong traction, contributing around 12% of total subscribers in only 4 months after it was launched. We expect IndiHome Netizen customers to continue growing significantly going forward as complementary to our IndiHome Triple Play product.
ARPU for IndiHome was IDR 360,000 in the first quarter 2017, improved from IDR 341,000 in the previous quarter. In order to further improve IndiHome ARPU, we encourage subscribers to migrate to a higher speed with various services or purchase various add-ons. Separately, we started to pursue a new revenue stream from advertising.
We keep enriching content to make IndiHome more attractive. In first quarter 2017, we added video streaming platform, HOOQ, in our content list in addition to existing video streaming platforms such as iflix and CatchPlay as well as various movie, music, sports, kids, knowledge and news programs.
Ladies and gentlemen, Telkom 3S Satellite, our new satellite that was launched on 15 February 2017 has commenced full operation in times, starting from 17 April 2017. After successfully passed all the process of traffic transfer without interrupting the customer, the satellite is now managed by Telkom Satellite Main Control Station in Cibinong, Indonesia.
We plan to launch another satellite in the third quarter next year. It will carry 48 C-band and 12 extended C-band transponders and cover Southeast Asia and South Asia regions. Currently, the progress of the satellite construction reached 53%. We believe that satellite is still important in Indonesia, given its unique geographical characteristics. Telkom aims to become one of the largest satellite operators in Asia.
Ladies and gentlemen, on 21st of April, we held Annual General Meeting of Shareholders with the following key decisions: distribution of 70% dividend payout for 2016 fiscal year, increased from 60% payout in the previous fiscal year. We will distribute a cash dividend of IDR 11.6 trillion or equal to 60% of net income, inclusive of interim dividend which has been paid in December 2016; and special cash dividend of IDR 1.9 trillion or equal to 10% of net income. All this total dividend, including the interim dividend, represent IDR 136.7 dividend per share. The cash dividend and special cash dividend will all be paid on 26 May 2017.
Appointment of 3 new Board of Director members and a new assignment for 2 existing BOD members. And the new BOD members are Mr. Mas'ud Khamid, who was previously Sales Director of Telkomsel; Mr. David Bangun, who was previously President Director of Mitratel; and Mr. Zulhelfi Abidin, who was previously IT Director of Bank BRI.
After AGMS, Telkom's BOD members and titles are: President Director, Alex J. Sinaga; Director of Finance, Harry M. Zen; Director of Consumers Service, Mas'ud Khamid; Director of Human Capital Management, Herdy R. Harman; Director of Network & IT Solution, Zulhelfi Abidin; Director of Digital & Strategic Portfolio, David Bangun; Director of Wholesale & International Service, Abdus Somad Arief; Director of Enterprise & Business Service, Dian Rachmawan.
The AGMS also replaced Mr. Pontas Tambunan with Ms. Devy Suradji as the Commissioner and appointed Mr. Cahyana Ahmadjayadi as new independent Commissioner.
Now let me reiterate our guidance for the full year of 2017. With the expectation of rapidly stable competition in mobile space and continued expansion in the fixed broadband business, we expect both Telkom and Telkomsel's revenue to grow better than the industry rate. We estimate the industry will grow at around 8% to 9% in 2017. EBITDA and net income margin are expected to slightly decline as Telkom is shifting towards digital telco company, with a higher proportion of revenue from Digital Business and continued strategy to enhance infrastructure. The capital expenditure for the group is expected around 23% to 25% of revenue, with investment focused on mobile and fixed broadband infrastructure.
That is ending my remarks. Thank you very much.