Bangladesh telco Grameenphone registers best quarter yet, generates Tk 29.4bn revenue

Telecom giant Grameenphone says it has enjoyed a 'solid' third quarter of the current fiscal, generating a revenue worth Tk 29.4 billion, despite a slight fall in its consumer base since June.

Rajeev Sethi, CEO of Grameenphone Ltd. described the third quarter as 'solid' for the company during a press conference organised by GP on Wednesday.

The revenue generated during this period is 11.2 percent higher than that generated during the same period last year.

It witnessed a net profit of Tk 6.4 billion, which represents a 55.7 percent year-on-year growth after a net investment of Tk 2.2 billion which was mainly for 3G expansion and capacity enhancement.

With 55 million subscribers, the company claimed to have increased its SIM market share by 43.7 percent since July 2016, but it conceded to a marginal drop in consumer base since June.

The annual subscriber base also declined by 0.9%, the company said, even as it claimed a rise in its SIM market share.

Sethi said "This quarter has been a solid one with accelerating momentum of our topline growth. Improvement in the daily revenue generating base along with usage is driving this growth. Data continues to perform well with voice revenue growth continuing.”    

He added, “New subscriber acquisition pace has picked up its momentum and will play an important role going forward.”

Grameenphone CFO Dilip Pal said, “Quarter 3 marked the highest ever revenue for Grameenphone along with double digit growth. We have delivered a solid bottom line from this accelerated revenue growth and controlled operating expenditure. We believe the encouraging growth in voice and data usage that we are experiencing is a reflection of our continued investments in network and market.”

It paid Tk 13.8 billion, or 46.8 percent of total revenue, to the national exchequer during the period in the form of taxes, VAT, duties and license fees, the company said.