Banglalink revenue decreases by 14%

The revenue earning of Banglalink, country’s second largest mobile phone operator, has decreased by 14% in second quarter on year to year basis due to the “application of the regulatory directives of deactivation of VoIP customers”.   VimpelCom, parent company of Banglalink, came up with the statement last week.   The report stated some other reasons-- local currency respectively, mainly driven by lower usage per subscriber, deactivation of VoIP customers, partially offset by higher interconnection and VAS revenues-- have worked behind the negative growth.    It said: “As previously communicated, the deactivation of high value suspected VoIP customers, in compliance with regulations set by the regulator, is expected to have a prolonged negative impact during 2013.”    Total deactivations of suspected VoIP customers during 2Q13 stood at 0.19 million while some 1.06 million customers deactivated in 4Q12 and 1Q13.    In addition, fourteen days of national strikes in 2Q13 caused a negative impact in business, the report claimed.   It added Banglalink’s mobile data revenues increased by 115% in Q2 2013 while the subscription has been increased to 27.1 million, driven by high gross additions and lower churn rate.   Earlier in 2008, the telecom regulator has fined the operator Tk1.68bn for its involvement in “illegal” VoIP business.