Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has received less revenue from the country’s two big mobile phone operators – Grameenphone and Robi – during the fourth quarter of 2013.
The operators said their revenue earnings were affected due to the months of political turmoil when business activities got disrupted severely.
According to them, the 3G network expansion plans were also largely hampered during the period, slowing their business growth.
But the other two operators – Banglalink and Airtel - sharing increased compared to the previous three months, the regulator said, though Airtel unofficially refuted its revenue hike.
“The time was tough as the country faced a turbulent situation in its politics, which has dented our revenue earning,” said Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, chief financial officer of Robi.
He said the mobile operators usually register 4-6% growth in revenues every quarter, but this time they suffered falls.
For the October-December period Grameenphone has paid Tk135 crore to the BTRC under 5.5% revenue sharing deal. In the third quarter, it shared Tk137 crore.
The revenue dropped to Tk2,455 crore from over Tk2,500 crore.
Robi’s sharing declined to Tk56 crore from Tk58 crore in third quarter.
However, Banglalink posted slight gain in its revenue earning during the fourth quarter, sharing Tk53 crore from Tk52 crore in the third quarter.
But the operator could register “much higher growth in revenue if the political situation was positive,” said a senior executive of Banglalink.
He explained: “The customers could not make a top up as business activities were disrupted, reducing the amount of call time. All these affected our revenue earning.”
But Airtel revenue made a quick jump as its revenue sharing with BTRC increased to Tk19.19 crore from Tk16.15 crore in the third quarter.
The operator however unofficially told the Dhaka Tribune that its revenue had not increased and BTRC’s claim was wrong.
Meanwhile, the mobile phone companies said their 3G network expansion plans were disrupted during the continuous hartals and blockades.
“Telecom sector is a significant part of Bangladesh’s economy. When other sectors are affected, telecom cannot remain immune,” said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (Amtob).
He added: “Operators have continued to invest money in network expansion, but were hardly successful during the last two quarters.”