Despite solid revenue growth and a steady rise in subscriber base, the country’s second-largest telecom operator Robi reported a loss in the April-June quarter of 2022.
Drastic changes in forex have undone Robi’s sound performance in the second quarter of 2022, the company stated while releasing its financial statements for the period.
In total, Robi lost Tk172 crore due to the devaluation of the Taka against the US dollar.
Consolidated earnings per share were Tk0.02 in the negative in the second quarter compared to Tk0.09 posted during the same period a year ago, according to the unaudited financial statements.
On the other hand, consolidated EPS was Tk0.05 for the first half of 2022, sharply down from Tk0.15 reported during the January to June period of last year.
Robi secured a Tk2,105.4 crore revenue in the second quarter of the year, but due to changes in forex, ended up losing Tk12.2 crore.
Had it not been for the forex changes, Robi’s profit after tax (PAT) for the period would have been Tk86.13 crore, the telecom operator reported.
On the other hand, Robi’s revenue for the first six months of 2022 stood at Tk4,124 crore and PAT stood at Tk28 crore including the figures for the second quarter.
Were it not for the losses induced by the forex changes, Robi’s PAT figure for the first six months would have been Tk131.88 crore, as per the company.
Robi’s acting CEO and CFO, M Riyaaz Rasheed said: “Losing our hard-earned profit to the devaluation of taka against the US dollar is very painful.”
“Since we rely on the international market to source telecom equipment, forex volatility is a major concern for us at the moment. We are also suffering due to the absence of a comprehensive mechanism for price regulation,” the Robi official further stated.
Robi strongly believes that there is a win-win opportunity for the customers, the operators, as well as the regulator, with regard to devising a comprehensive price regulation regime.
“The longer we take to formulate it, the more painful it will be for the smaller operators in this intensely competitive market,” the top brass stated.
Compared to the last quarter, the company’s revenue increased by 4.3% and when compared to the same quarter of 2021, revenue grew by 3.7%.
Voice revenue increased by 4.6% compared to the last quarter and by 11.8% compared to the same quarter of last year.
Data revenue grew by 3.7% compared to last quarter, while it declined by 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year.
Robi’s subscriber base grew by 0.8% compared to last quarter reaching 54.5 million at the end of the second quarter.
Compared to the same quarter last year, the subscriber base grew by 5.2%.
The data subscriber base grew by 2.0% compared to last quarter to reach 40.5 million and when compared to the same quarter of last year, the data subscriber base grew by 7.8%.
Robi maintained its 4G leadership in the quarter with 48.3% of its total subscribers being 4G users.
Around 74.2% of Robi’s subscriber base were internet subscribers in Q2, which was the highest in the industry, and 65.1% of data users were 4G users.
Robi ensured 98.2% population coverage of its 4G network with 14,961 4G sites.
At the end of the second quarter, the company had 26.3 million 4G subscribers.
Compared to last quarter, Robi’s 4G subscribers grew by 6.1%, and when compared to the same quarter last year, 4G subscribers grew by 32.4%.
According to the company’s reports, each Robi data subscriber consumed 5.1GB of data every month on average and compared to the same quarter last year, data usage per subscriber, per month, increased by 31.3%.
EBITDA in Q2’22 grew by 13.6% compared to the last quarter to reach Tk967 crore with a 45.9% margin.
Compared to the same quarter last year, EBITDA grew by 13.2% and its margin grew by 3.8% compared to last quarter, while compared to the same quarter last year, the margin grew by 3.9%.
The company’s earnings per share (EPS) in Q2of 2022 was -0.02 taka. Had it not been for the forex changes, Robi’s EPS for Q2 would have been Tk0.16, and the EPS for the first six months of 2022 would have been Tk0.25.
Robi paid Tk1,475.3 crore to the government exchequer in the second quarter of the running year, which was 70.1% of the total revenue for the quarter.
The company made a Capex investment of Tk483.4 crore in the same quarter.