The net profit of mobile phone operator, Robi, fell by 9% in the third quarter of the current year in comparison with the same quarter last year.
The company reported that its net profit stood at Tk130 crore.
At the same time, its gross revenue also fell 1% in comparison with the previous quarter.
The second largest operator in terms of revenues, Robi, revealed its financial disclosures to the journalists at a press conference yesterday.
The cellphone company said the negative profit trend was due to amortisation of debt arising from large capital investment to support the third generation (3G) business, licence acquisition and the country-wide rapid network roll-out.
About the revenue fall, it said despite strong growth in subscribers, quarter to quarter revenues decreased marginally by 1% to Tk1,210 crore mainly due to lower voice revenues whilst data revenues recorded a growth of 31% driven by an increased adoption of Robi data services.
“We are not disappointed about the balance shit though our revenues declined,” Supun Weerasinghe, managing director and chief executive officer of Robi said, replying to a question.
Robi, however, said its third quarter earning is 14.6% higher compared to the preceding quarter this year due to income from data business through 3G.
The CEO said: “We see a good growth in data services since the beginning of the year as we have expanded our 3.5G network across the country.”
The company is investing significantly towards expanding its 3.5G network across the country and to boost growth in data usage, he added.
“Given the slow growth in voice revenues, imposition of an additional surcharge on customer talk time may further hinder voice revenue growth.”
Weerasinghe said recently the operator has covered all 64 districts across the country with its 3G network.