Axiata edges up after Celcom teams with Broadcast Australia

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 13): Axiata Group Bhd shares advanced on Tuesday
after Celcom signed a teaming agreement with Broadcast Australia, its
technical partner in the bid to build infrastructure for the country’s
digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DTTB) network.

RHB Research in a note Tuesday said that it was positive if Celcom
wins the tender, due to the potential for recurring income from renting
out the infrastructure for the DTTB network to TV broadcasters.

At 11.45am, Axiata rose two sen to RM4.84 with 846,100 shares traded.

RHB Research Institute has maintained its market perform
recommendation on Axiata Group and a fair value of RM5.15, and said
capex demands on Celcom did not appear too significant.

“Assuming the cost of building the DTTB network infrastructure is
split equally, Celcom only needs to spend an incremental capex of up to
RM83 million per annum on top of its existing RM1 billion planned for
2012,” it said.

The Edge FinancialDaily on Tuesday said Celcom estimated the cost of
building the infrastructure for the DTTB network would be RM500 million
over three to five years, but the share of investment and stakeholding
by Celcom and Broadcast Australia has yet to be determined.