Banglalink is off to an impressive start in 2022, as its long-term investment in 4G continues to yield faster revenue growth.
The mobile operator registered an 8.6% year-on-year revenue growth in Q1 22, according to First Quarter 2022 Trading Update published by its parent company Veon.
This is the highest year-on-year growth margin among all private operators in Bangladesh in the last quarter, reads a press release.
Banglalink was the only private operator in the country that managed to increase its market share in 1Q22 as well. While it witnessed a 0.7% growth in the market share, Grameenphone (GP)’s share remained unchanged, and Robi saw it drop by 0.7%.
The total revenue generated by Banglalink in this quarter is Tk1,242crore.
GP’s and Robi’s revenues during this period were Tk3,633.52 crore and Tk2,018.9 crore, respectively.
Customers’ growing interest in mobile internet and digital services was once again a key driver of Banglalink’s performance. Its data usage per user and revenue generated from data grew by 56.3% and 22.1% YoY, respectively, in 1Q22. The 4G customer base of the operator also grew by 39.7% YoY.
Banglalink invested heavily in the 4G network in recent years to expand its coverage across the country.
It built more than 1000 base stations in the first quarter and intends to build 2000-2500 more this year.
Last month, it increased its total spectrum holding to 80 MHz by acquiring a total of 40 MHz new spectrum from the BTRC auction.
Lauding Banglalink’s overall performances, Erik Aas, CEO of Banglalink said: “Banglalink started 2022 with the strong growth momentum gained in the earlier years. A 4.8% YoY growth in our customer base shows how actively the customers are embracing our super-fast 4G internet and innovative digital services.”
“We are carrying out a 4G network expansion and modernization drive to reach our target of double-digit growth. The recently acquired 40 MHz spectrum and newly built base stations will help us in this regard,” he further added.
Banglalink’s entertainment app Toffee, the most popular of its digital services, closed 1Q22 with 6.3 million customers.
As part of its effort to expand the digital service portfolio, it has recently introduced the country’s first digital health aggregator platform ‘Health Hub’, and a digital services marketplace ‘Applink’.