The third quarter earnings of mobile phone operator Banglalink dropped by about 15% to Tk10bn from the corresponding period of last year.
The revenue fall is due to ongoing deactivation of suspected VoIP customers, according to a report its parent company, Vimpelcom, released on Thursday.
The second largest cell phone operator in the country in terms of subscribers registered lower usage per subscriber after the implementation of regulatory directives to deactivate the suspected VoIP users, it said.
The deactivation of suspected VoIP customers, in compliance with regulations set by the telecom regulator – BTRC, is expected to have a prolonged negative impact during this year.
Banglalink ended the quarter with 28.1 million customers, up 5% year-on-year. Average revenue per user (ARPU) went up but MOU fell to 189 from 225.
However, EBITDA rose to Tk4bn from Tk3bn on cost savings and lower SIM tax subsidies and EBITDA margin improved to 36.3% from 29.3% in Q3 2012.
Jo Lunder, group CEO of Vimpelcom said: “The third quarter results were impacted by regulatory and competitive pressures.”
He said the Africa and Asia business unit delivered stable EBITDA and continuing strong subscriber growth.
Bangladesh and the CIS, as well as the continued rollout of HSPA+ and backbone capacity to support data growth in Italy and acquisition of 3G licence in Bangladesh.
Earlier, the telecom regulator had fined the operator Tk1.68bn for their involvement in VoIP during 2008 emergency period.