as the local mobile operator posted an 83 percent rise in operating profit in the first quarter of 2009 over the same period a year ago.
GP's operating profit jumped to 530 million Norwegian Kroner (NOK) (Tk 562.86 crore) in the first three months of 2009, which was NOK 289 million up from the same period of 2008, according to Telenor's financial report posted on its website yesterday.
"We have managed to reduce capex (capital expenditure) and costs, resulting in a strong cash flow margin in a challenging business environment. Particularly Telenor Norway and Grameenphone in Bangladesh are delivering strong performance," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and CEO of Telenor, in a press statement.
"The business environment continues to be turbulent and we now experience some impacts on the telecom sector, in particular influencing international traffic. However, the total traffic volumes are relatively stable," said Baksaas.
GP was the most profitable venture of Telenor's global mobile network in the last quarter of 2006. For the full year of 2006, GP made an operating profit of NOK 1.836 billion on sales of NOK 4.314 billion.
GP is a joint venture -- 62 percent owned by Telenor and 38 percent by local Grameen Telecom. Telenor provides voice, data, content and other communication services in 13 countries across Europe and Asia.
GP is the market leader among the six mobile operators. The company now holds 46 percent market share with 21 million customers up to March 2009.
Its revenue also went up by 6 percent in the first quarter this year over the same period in 2008. The first quarter revenue was NOK 1,574 million (NOK 1 = BDT 10.62) compared to NOK 1,153 million of the same period of 2008. Last year's total revenue was NOK 5,049 million.
In a statement issued yesterday, Grameenphone CEO Oddvar Hesjedal said: "The reported increase has mainly been due to the growth in the company's subscriber base, and increased interconnection revenues for the introduction of International Gateway (IGW) from the fourth quarter of 2008."
The number of subscribers added in the first quarter of 2009 was 63,000, a slowdown attributable to the higher start-up price on inclusion of the SIM (subscriber identity module) tax. Along with some other mobile operators, GP increased its connection price to Tk 800.
The operator's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) up to March was NOK 934 million, which was NOK 545 million a year earlier. The company said EBITDA increased mainly on higher revenue combined with lower subscription acquisition costs.
The Telenor financial report said GP's monthly average revenue per users (ARPU) to March was NOK 25, which was NOK 22 a year ago.
The $3.2-billion Grameenphone is the first mobile company that has submitted its plan for listing on the capital market. The $65-million (Tk 449 crore) initial public offering (IPO) proposal however is still under consideration of the capital market watchdog.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=86959