Robi rakes in Tk 12 billion second quarter revenue, sees 5% growth

Robi Axiata has posted 5.1 percent revenue growth in the second quarter of 2016 in 'very challenging business conditions'.

The mobile-phone operator in a media statement on Thursday said the revenue rose to Tk 12.4 billion in April-June period.

It has maintained its subscriber base of 27.4 million even though the biometric re-registration of SIM cards has slowed down new activations.

Robi witnessed Tk 34.2 million net loss in the second quarter 'mainly' due to accelerated assets depreciation from network modernization in Chittagong-Comilla region, the statement said.

Normalised profit in the period was Tk 985 million.

The operator said it was investing 'aggressively' in 3.5G network expansion and 2.5G voice and data service improvement.

Total CAPEX investment made since Robi's inception amounted to Tk 172.3 billion, including Tk 5.6 billion CAPEX investment in second quarter of 2016.

The statement said the company has network coverage in all 64 districts in Bangladesh through more than 8,700 sites, including over 4,600 for 3.5G services.

“We experienced stable mobile revenue during the second quarter of 2016. However, SIM biometric re-registration initiative negatively impacted the growth momentum of the business,” it quoted Managing Director and CEO Supun Weerasinghe as saying.

"Nevertheless, we are continuing to invest towards expansion and modernization of 2.5G/3.5G network across the country to provide a superior experience to our subscribers,” he said.

In the second quarter, the company contributed Tk 3.1 billion to the government exchequer, which makes up 24.6 percent of the company revenue.