Grameenphone has suffered declines both in revenue and profit during the July-September quarter this year compared to previous three months.
The revenue dropped to Tk2,560 crore in July-September period from Tk2,620 crore in April-June period when the net profit also came down to Tk530 crore from Tk540 crore.
According to the operator, floods in the northern parts of the country and FIFA World Cup when users were busy watching matches might have a negative impact on the earnings during the period.
“Mainly World Cup and sudden floods in the northern parts cast a negative impact on the revenue and profitability,” said Grameenphone CEO Vivek Sood at a press conference yesterday.
He said international interconnection revenue suffered a 50% decline in call termination rates, which also affected the company’s revenue earning.
In reply to a question, the newly appointed chief financial officer Dilip Pal said: “Generally third quarter is a seasonal quarter for us, and as we have shown tremendous performance in the second quarter, it seems third quarter was not a good time for us.”
Grameenphone, however, said it enjoyed 72% growth in the Internet service uses from last year’s third quarter as 5% of the revenue comes from the data service.
“We have a goal to achieve 5 crore Internet users in next three to four years, and we are on the way to that goal,” Vivek Sood said.
The average revenue per user fell to Tk165 in third quarter from Tk170 in second quarter and the average use per user declined to 243 minutes from 250 minutes in second quarter.
The data of first nine months of 2014, however, showed the profit after tax grew 48.64% to Tk1,592 crore compared to Tk1,071 crore during the same period last year, driven by, the operator said, better revenue growth and higher efficiency in operating cost.
Officials said the revenue was Tk7,674 crore in the nine months with 6.10% growth from the same period last year.
Grameenphone said it got a net number of 42.5 lakh subscribers in the nine months, which helped the operator cross the landmark of 5 crore subscribers. It has now 42.4% market share in subscription.
“I am excited to inform our shareholders that Grameenphone managed to cross a monumental milestone of 50 million (5 crore) subscriber base through its enduring commitment of offering innovative and customer centric products and services. This was also possible in connivance with our countrywide robust and reliable network built over the years,” said Vivek.
The operator has invested Tk929 crore during the period for fast-track 3G roll-out in all 64 district headquarters, 2G coverage as well as capacity increase and other efficiency enhancement initiatives.
