The combined revenue income of the country’s five private mobile operators increased by more than 36% in the last fiscal year compared to the previous fiscal, according to the annual report of the regulator.
Their revenue income stood at Tk243.8bn in fiscal year 2012-13, which was Tk178.5bn in the same period a year earlier.
Combined investment by the operators was also up more than 43% to Tk114.2bn compared to the same period a year ago.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) did not include state-owned Teletalk mobile operator in its annual report.
Sources in the BTRC said the regulator requested Teletalk repeatedly to submit its financial statement, but it went unheeded.
Teletalk have earned Tk6.65bn in the last fiscal year, said a source in the state-owned mobile phone company. He could not provide investment figure of the company.
The country’s top mobile operators Grameenphone (GP)’s revenue income rose more than Tk139bn, a rise of over 51% from a year ago, according to the BTRC annual report, released last week.
In terms of subscribers its market share was 42% but here in terms of revenue its share is over 57%. During the period the GP invested almost Tk90bn, which is 78.8% from the previous fiscal year.
Banglalink’s revenue increased Tk7.49bn to Tk45.37bn in the last fiscal year from the same period a year ago. Its market share is 26% in terms of subscribers.
During the period Robi earned Tk42.78bn, which was Tk34.56bn in the previous fiscal year. Banglalink and Robi invested Tk9.31bn and Tk9.29bn respectively in the last fiscal year.
Revenue of Citycell, the oldest mobile operator in the country, has declined to Tk2.68bn, which was Tk3.47bn in the previous fiscal year. Its investment figure was not available.
Revenue of Airtel, the newest mobile operator, was Tk13.6bn, an increase of 28.8% to Tk10.6bn a year earlier.
“It is a positive sign that operators revenue income increased despite the fact that the top three mobile operators have to deposit a huge amount of 2G licence renewal fees to the regulator,” a high official of the BTRC.
The renewal fees helps increase investment figure of mobile operators, he added.