Bangladesh’s Grameenphone Q3 revenue up nearly 10 pct
DHAKA, Oct. 26 (nsnewswire) — Grameenphone Ltd. (GP) reported BDT 25.0 billion revenues for the 3rd quarter of 2013, 9.4% increase from the same period of 2012. GP managed this growth amid competition, sluggish economic activity, apprehension of political unrest and respite from strong tailwind of EID festivity. The growth is attributed to increase in traffic, induced by attractive recharge based campaign and rate cutter promotions. Growth in interconnection minutes, higher device sales and adjacent business also contributed significantly. The company also secured 3G spectrum of 10 Mhz in an auction held on 8 September 2013 conducted by the regulator BTRC.
During the quarter, GP added 2.07 million subscriptions, taking the quarter-end subscription base to 46.04 million along with maintaining the subscription market share. GP was successfully acquiring new subscribers capitalizing massive POS expansion, improved market visibility, hyped trade engagements and positive price perception.
“I am pleased to present the 3rd quarter results to our honourable shareholders, where GP has managed to be in a forward leaning position with revitalized market machineries to secure the fair share of growth being generated from the market.”, said Vivek Sood, CEO of Grameenphone Ltd. He added, “I am also excited to begin the new data centric era providing internet for all and enabling people to improve their lives with power of digital communication. With the advent of 3G this vision will be ever more possible to realize.”
The net profit after taxes for the quarter was BDT 5.7 billion with 22.9% margin compared to BDT 3.2 billion with 13.8% margin for the 3rd quarter of 2012. Profit soared due to higher revenue, lower operating expense induced by lower subscriber acquisition cost from SIM tax reduction, lower consultancy and one time effect of gain on disposal of shares in GPIT. EBITDA margin for the third quarter of 2013 was 57.4%, which also has increased by 6.3 percentage points compared to the same period of last year.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the 3rd quarter of 2013 stood at BDT 4.25 compared to BDT 2.34 of the same period of 2012. This prompted a healthy 81.5% growth.
GP invested BDT 19.6 billion during the 3rd quarter of 2013 on its superior network along with acquisition of 10 Mhz of 3G spectrum to cater the data centric era. With this, GP’s cumulative investment since inception stands at BDT 236 billion. Meanwhile, GP, the largest taxpayer of the country, paid BDT 31.2 billion to the national exchequer during the period, which sums up the accumulated contribution to the national exchequer to BDT 367 billion. On account of corporate tax, GP paid BDT 2.0 billion during the 3rd quarter of 2013, which was BDT 0.5 billion higher compared to the same period of last year.
For the resolution of claim against replacement SIM, a committee was formed by the LTU commissioner consisting of members from operators, AMTOB, BTRC and NBR. Committee is still working for finalization of the report. We are expecting a good outcome from NBR in light of the report. Regarding BTRC’s directives for introducing of Mobile Number Portability (MNP), GP and other operators have raised concerns over the stringent stipulated timeframe and urged them for consultation with AMTOB before finalizing the guidelines.
Source: GP Press Release