Three mobile phone operators - Grameenphone, Robi and Teletalk - made a total net profit of Tk1,883.4 crore in 2013.
But Other three operators - Airtel, Banglalink and Citycell - incurred a net l oss of Tk1,358.3 crore.
The operators disclosed the figures recently in a classified presentation with the National Board of Revenue on Thursday last.
The total revenue of the six operators for the year 2013 amounted to Tk20,373 crore, which might increased a little more in the upcoming years.
According to the document, the operators claimed that their market size would be grown further by up to Tk23,419 crore only if the NBR brings some regulatory changes.
“During the last five years, although all the six operators earned a revenue worth Tk83,481 crore, only two of them made profits,’’ says the report.
“It is our hardcore calculation and we jointly worked on it for last two months to find out the real estimates,” said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (Amtob).
He also disclosed that all the chief financial officers of the six mobile phone operators were engaged in preparing the presentation on the basis of the performances of their respective companies.
In the presentation Amtob claimed that low industry profitability was hindering growth and investment in the sector.
Grameenphone made profit of Tk7,665.6 crore in between 2009 and 2013 while their revenue was around Tk41,714.3 crore.
The onlylisted mobile operator also made Tk1,470.2 crore profit last year. Though Robi has not been consistent in profitmaking but the record shows that the operator made Tk560.5 crore net profit against its net income worth Tk16,078.8 croreduring the last five years.
The profit and revenue of Robi stood at Tk366.8 crore and Tk4,517.1 crore respectively in 2013, according to the presentation.
However, Banglalink could not make any profit in the last five years even in the year 2013, being number two operators in terms of subscriber numbers. Its net loss stood at around Tk2,037.6 crore during the last five years as its revenue was only Tk17,878.8 crore.
On the other hand, Airtel never disclosed their revenue and profit or loss statement after launching its operation in Bangladesh since 2010.
But, this presentation unveiled that their revenue stood at Tk1,354.9 crore while it incurred a net loss of Tk625.1 crore in the year 2013.
It was also estimated that the company earned Tk4,154.3 crore as revenue and Tk3,413.6 crore as net loss in the last five years.
Only state-owned operator Teletalk made Tk46.4 crore profit on their revenue of 660.3 crore on 2013 while they observed Tk98.9 crore net loss in the last five years from Tk1,734.9 crore revenues.
Citycell, the oldest operator in South East Asia, somehow, managedto earn Tk243 crore revenue in 2013 with a net loss of Tk303.7 core.
The company had to calculate Tk1,922.8 crore as its revenue while Tk724.3 crore as net loss in between 2009 and 2013.
Nurul Kabir noted that the whole telecom industry was running through a cross road and stressed the need for working together to put the industry on right track.
“The above mentioned figures only demonstrate how the telecom industry is sturggling and if the decision makers don’t realise the situation, the telecom industry will soon become a sick industry very soon,” added secretary general of Amtob.
Amtob in its another presentation showed that if the tax regulator could bring some changes in some regulations, the revenue of the telecom industry could jump up to Tk23,419 crore bythe year 2016.
But if the regulation remain unchanged, the size of the total market will be hardly Tk22,197crore within the same period.
Amtob presentation also estimated that the loss of the Airtel and Citycell might be increased further after two years though Banglalink’s might be able to reduce some its loss.
“Though Grameenphone and Teletalk’s profit may increase in the coming days, the profit of Robi is, however, likely to be decreased if the regulation remains same.”