KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): CelcomDigi Bhd (KL:CDB) said on Wednesday that its chief executive officer Datuk Idham Nawawi will leave at the end of August after deciding not to renew his contract over "personal reasons".
Albern Murty, the deputy CEO, will then assume the role of acting CEO at the country’s largest mobile network operator by subscribers, CelcomDigi said in a statement. A formal search for the next CEO will begin, which will consider both internal and external candidates, the company said.
In the meantime, Idham will continue to support the company as an adviser to the board until Nov 30 during the transition period, CelcomDigi said.
Idham’s departure comes after three years at the helm, during which he led the group through the initial years of the merger between Celcom and Digi in 2022. His successor will have to navigate the roll-out of the country’s 5G dual wholesale network while competing with smaller rivals.
He first joined Celcom in September 2018, where he spearheaded a turnaround of the company and later played a pivotal role in driving the merger with smaller rival Digi, then a unit of Norwegian-based Telenor ASA.
“Personally, this role has been one of the greatest and most unexpected privileges of my career, and I wish CelcomDigi continued success,” Idham said.
Albern, who has more than 22 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, previously served as the CEO of Digi, which was also listed on Bursa Malaysia for seven years before the merger.
He will continue his role as the deputy CEO while serving as acting CEO from Sept 1, CelcomDigi said.
Chairman Tengku Datuk Seri Azmil Zahruddin Raja Abdul Aziz thanked Idham for laying the foundation for CelcomDigi’s future growth.
“We are pleased that Albern has agreed to step in as the acting CEO, as CelcomDigi continues its transformation journey,” he said.
CelcomDigi, which has more than 20.4 million users nationwide, said its formal CEO search is aimed at securing “the strongest possible leadership” to guide the company into its next chapter.
For the first half of the year, CelcomDigi's net profit was up 5.1% to RM822.71 million when compared to the same six months in 2024, while total revenue was at RM6.39 billion, up 1.8% year-on-year. It declared a second interim dividend of 3.8 sen per share.
CelcomDigi is targeting “low-single-digit” growth in service revenue and for earnings before interest and tax to grow “low- to mid-single digit” for the full 2025.
Service revenue, which excludes sales of devices, dipped 0.7% to RM5.35 billion in the first six months of 2025, when compared to the same period last year. However, earnings before interest and tax surged 16.5% year-on-year to RM1.43 billion.
CelcomDigi also recently provided additional shareholder advances of RM116.67 million to Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) to support the state-owned 5G network wholesaler’s operations and working capital needs. All in all, CelcomDigi has pumped RM350.03 million into DNB.