Net profit of leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone increased by 22.42 per cent or Tk 162.98 crore in the third quarter of the year 2020 amid resumption of economic activities after the stagnation seen immediately after the coronavirus outbreak.
As per the company’s quarterly report, GP posted Tk 889.86 crore in net profit in July-September this year against Tk 726.88 crore reported in the same period of 2019.
With the increase in net profit, the operator’s earnings per share increased to Tk 6.59 in Q3 this year from Tk 5.38 in the same quarter last year.
The gradual easing of the coronavirus situation and restoration of normalcy during Q3 after the imposition of a two-month shutdown to contain the spread of coronavirus helped the business to regain its foothold gradually.
The telecom operator successfully maintained its profitability in Q3 even after the telecom regulator imposed a number of conditions on GP in June this year under the significant market power regulations.
Apart from the conditions, the telecom entity paid Tk 3,000 crore to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission following a court order.
Despite the payments and regulatory barriers this year, GP’s profit after tax increased by 6.06 per cent or Tk 153.58 crore to Tk 2,685.39 in the first nine months of this year against Tk 2,531.81 crore in the same period a year ago.
EPS in the first nine months increased to Tk 19.89 this year from Tk 18.75 a year ago.
Although the company’s profit after tax grew this year, its revenue dropped to Tk 10,479.62 crore in JanuarySeptember this year against Tk 10,749.39 crore in the same period last year.
‘Grameenphone is reporting a recovering topline in the third quarter of 2020 as the economic activity of Bangladesh gradually resumes following the initial months of COVID-19 pandemic,’ said GP chief executive officer Yasir Azman, adding, ‘We also experienced adverse impacts of challenging weather conditions in this quarter.’
Speaking about the technological issues, Azman said, ‘Our network roll-out significantly increased in the third quarter, allowing us to expand our 4G footprint.’
Through strong operational execution, we focused on driving subscriber net adds and 4G conversion, leading to a 4.1-per cent increase in our total customers from the previous quarter, he said.
‘Our regulator has approved a proposed agreement under the Tower Company guideline, which will enable Grameenphone to start rolling out new sites and significantly help us to provide an even better customer experience throughout the country,’ he said.
‘The third quarter of 2020 brought some additional challenges due to record rainfall and floods in parts of the country,’ said GP CFO Jens Becker.
‘After reporting a degrowth of 8.1 per cent in the previous quarter, we see promising recovery in the third quarter with a degrowth of 2.8 per cent year over year in total revenues along with growth in both data revenue and data users,’ Jens said.
A GP statement issued in this regard on Monday said that GP invested Tk 320 crore, excluding licence and lease expenses for network coverage during the third quarter, adding 1,070 new 4G sites to their network.
Source: https://www.newagebd.net/article/119434/grameenphone-profits-increase-by-2242pc-in-q3