Robi rides to 11.5 percent revenue growth on internet data business

Robi Axiata Limited has posted an 11.5 percent growth in revenue in the third quarter (July-September) of current year.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 24 Nov 2016, 07:55 PM
Updated : 24 Nov 2016, 08:18 PM

The revenue in this period clocked Tk 13.9 billion, the mobile-phone operator said in a media statement on Thursday.

It credited internet data business for the growth despite a drop in the number of subscribers to 23.8 million due to deactivation of SIM cards that were not biometrically registered.

Its year-on-year revenue also dropped by 1 percent, but internet data business galloped 34.1 percent.

After the merger with Airtel on Nov 16, Robi now has a subscription base of 32.2 million or 20.5 percent of the total mobile-phone subscribers in Bangladesh.

The statement said Robi invested Tk 2.9 billion in expanding its network.

“We experienced solid mobile revenue growth during the third quarter of 2016. However, SIM deactivation after 31st May 2016 for non-compliant biometric registration SIM has negatively impacted the growth momentum of the business,” Robi Managing Director and CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said.

“Nevertheless, we are continuing to invest towards expansion and modernization of 2.5G/3.5G network across the country to provide a superior mobile services experience to our subscribers,” the media release quoted him as saying.

The statement said the company contributed Tk 3.5 billion, or 25.3 percent of its revenue, to the national exchequer.

Since inception in 1997, Robi has paid more than Tk 170.3 billion to the exchequer and remitted Tk 2.9 billion dividends to its shareholders, it added.

After the merger, Malaysia-based Axiata Group Berhad’s stake in the new company is 68.7 percent and Bharti Airtel has 25 percent. The rest 6.3 percent is owned by the existing shareholder, Japan‘s NTT DOCOMO, according to Robi.