Cambodian telecom Smart Axiata retained healthy growth in the first quarter, with revenue rising 17 percent year-on-year to 318,000,000 ringgit ($74.5 million), fuelled by data monetisation and effective cost management despite aggressive price competition by other telecommunication players, according to financials released by Malaysian parent company Axiata last week.

Data subscriptions grew by 10.3 percent since the beginning of the year to include 3.6 million subscribers, while data revenue accounting for 48.5 percent of total revenue grew by 57 percent during the same period, the company reported.