Bangladeshi mobile operator Banglalink saw its revenues for the third quarter rise 3.8 percent from the year earlier to BDT 11.4 billion, with mobile service revenue growing 5.2 percent to 11.2 billion, including 2.3 billion of revenue from mobile data, representing a 26.4 percent jump year-on-year. EBITDA climbed more than 18 percent to BDT 4.7 billion, with the EBITDA margin advancing to 40.9 percent from 35.9 percent, as higher revenue was largely offset by the increase in the minimum tax rate. Excluding the negative impact as a result of changes in the tax regime EBITDA would have increased by an additional 7.1 percent.
Banglalink’s customer base grew 2.4 percent year-on-year, while the number of data customers increased 9.7 percent, as a result of simplified and product offers and improved network availability, parent company Veon reported. ARPU increased by 2.4 percent years-on-year driven by higher voice and data revenue, following the introduction of the new bundle portfolio with revised prices during the quarter. Data revenue was boosted by increased smartphone penetration and data usage grew by 83 percent year-on-year to 1,344 MB per user.
In the third quarter of 2019, capex excluding licenses pre-IFRS 16 increased year-on-year to BDT 2.1 billion. 3G network population coverage was 72 percent at the end of the period. The roll-out of 4G/LTE is in progress, following the introduction of this service in February 2018.
In the second quarter of 2019, the tax authority in Bangladesh introduced several changes to the tax regime. The Supplementary Duty increased from 5 percent to 10 percent from subscription revenue; SIM tax increased from BDT 100 to 200; minimum tax rate increased from 0.75 percent to 2 percent of revenue and custom duties on smartphones increased from 10 percent to 25 percent. Banglalink expects these tax changes to have a negative impact of 5.7 percent on EBITDA for FY 2019.