According to its latest stock exchange cautionary, Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) expects after-tax profits for the first half of 2018 to be 40% higher than the previous contrasting period.

In the interim period to June 2017, the company posted after-tax profit of approximately US$6.5 million.

The company has linked this growth to its US$30 million network upgrade in 2017.

TNM is the country's second largest telco after Airtel Malawi and has continued to focus on the convergence of telephony, video and data communications services to increase its market share.

The company has also increased its investment in 4G to strengthen service delivery in Lilongwe and Blantyre, as well as in the northern regions of the country.

TNM plans to leverage 4G to offer services "beyond that of traditional GSM mobile telephony" and entrench its position in the market.

At the same time the company has confirmed it has registered 1.5 million subscribers at the beginning of June in line with new SIM card registration requirements as stipulated by the country's ICT and telecommunications regulator.

As of July this year, all new SIM cards must be registered within seven days of purchase. Telcos have until 30 September 2018 to register all new mobile network SIM cards.

Listing requirements for the Malawi Stock Exchange require companies to publish updates "as soon as there is a reasonable degree of certainty that the financial statements for the period to be reported upon next will differ by at least 20% from that of the previous" corresponding period.

TNM will publish results for the period before the end of September 2018.

The telco has been making steady inroads in the market despite CEO Douglas Stevenson having left the company to take up the position of COO of South Africa's Cell C in September 2017.