(Telecompaper) Asia operator Axiata announced plans to nearly double its dividend payments for 2012 after a strong performance from its mobile subsidiaries. Revenues rose 7.3 percent to MYR 17.7 billion and were up 11.7 percent when excluding the forex impact. The growth came from Celcom in Malaysia, where sales rose 7%, XL in Indonesia (+15%), Dialog in Sri Lanka (+15%) and Robi in Bangladesh (+27%). EBITDA increased 4.2 percent to MYR 7.4 billion, while the margin was down 1.2 percent points amid investments in network roll-out to meet the demand for data services. Margins were also impacted following the introduction of SMS interconnection at XL. Net profit rose 7.1 percent to MYR 2.5 billion, helped by a strong contribution from its stake in Indian operator Idea Cellular. Axiata said it will increase its dividend pay-out to 70 percent of net profit from 60 percent, resulting in a final dividend of MYR 0.23 per share. It will also pay a special dividend of MYR 0.12 per share, worth in total MYR 1 billion. The combined total is over MYR 3 billion in dividends for 2012, versus MYR 1.6 billion in 2011.