In the first three months of the current financial year, 1 million new subscribers have been added to Grameenphone, the country’s top mobile phone operator. Through this, at the end of the first quarter of the year, the number of subscribers of Grameenphone stood at 80 million. Out of this 54.3 percent customers are using internet. This number is 0.2 percent lower than last quarter. However, Grameenphone still posted a revenue of Tk. 3,734.8 crore, which is 2.8 percent higher than the same period last year.
This information is known from the press release sent by Tajriba Khurshid, the company’s corporate communications manager. There, the Chief Financial Officer of Grameenphone Limited, Jens Becker said, due to 2.7 percent growth in daily subscription and traffic revenue, the total revenue increased by 2.8 percent to Tk. 3734.8 crore in this quarter. Data revenue grew by 14.2 percent year-on-year due to usage growth, which was the main driver behind subscription and traffic revenue growth. Also, Grameenphone’s EBITDA increased by 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2023 with a margin of 61 percent. The net profit for this quarter was Tk. 779.7 crore with a margin of 20.9 percent.
Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman was quoted as saying, ‘Last year, Grameenphone celebrated 25 years of serving customers and empowering society in Bangladesh. We entered the year 2023 with this milestone. On 2 January 2023 and at the end of six months, the regulatory body lifted the ban on Grameenphone SIM sales after repeated assessments of Grameenphone’s network capacity and customer satisfaction. After the resumption of our SIM sales, our subscriber base returned to growth and we achieved the milestone of 8 crore subscribers.”
He added, “Our continued network investment has led to significant progress in launching spectrum and sites. We have doubled our fiber connectivity and launched more than 20 thousand sites in total. This laid the foundation for a future-proof data network, enabling us to deliver an enhanced experience to our customers and establish the number one network in the country. We have taken significant steps to enhance the product portfolio – making it more convenient for customers. This was necessary to ensure that our services are more customer-centric and efficient and to meet the evolving needs of our customers. Our ongoing modernization and transformation journey has started yielding positive results, which will enhance our capabilities, competencies. A combination of tools and partnerships is helping to build future-proof organizations. We will continue to work tirelessly to contribute to our future growth.”
Grameenphone Limited Chief Financial Officer Jens Becker’s assessment says, “Grameenphone continues to deliver strong financial results in the first quarter of 2023. Grameenphone has achieved eight consecutive quarters of positive overall growth and EBITDA growth amid headwinds such as rising inflation, rising fuel prices and dwindling foreign exchange reserves. Net profit year-on-year has been impacted due to higher depreciation of spectrum acquisitions, new site launches and higher finance costs last year. Grameenphone invested Tk. 691.23 crore in capital expenditure (excluding licenses, leases and ARO) during the quarter, focusing on 4G network, coverage expansion and Spectrum deployment. In the first three months of 2023, the company deposited Tk. 2,400 crore in the government exchequer in taxes, VAT, duties, fees, forge licenses and spectrum allocation, which is 64.64% of its total revenue.