Telecom operator Robi on Thursday posted 5.2% negative growth in revenue in second quarter (Q2) of the calendar year 2020, compared to that of the last year (2019).
At the end of the quarter (April-June), the company's total income reached Tk1,763crore, said a media release, while its profit after tax (PAT) was Tk58.4crore.
In comparison with the first quarter (January-March) this year, the operator's revenue declined by 9.5% in April-June.
Robi Managing Director and CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said that the Covid-19 pandemic hit the telecommunication business as well.
"But our razor-sharp focus on cost optimization and lowering direct costs helped us to end the quarter with minimum profit," he added.
The top official said that the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) took a decisive moves to implement SMP (significant market power) regulations.
"We now eagerly await tangible outcomes in this regarda,” Mahtab expressed hope.
“Despite harsh business conditions, we stood by all our partners in every possible way we could," he said in the release.
It said their profit was heavily impacted by the 'discriminatory' 2% minimum turnover tax.
"The smaller players in the telecom industry was effectively made to pay minimum turnover tax at double rate compared to any other industries," it added.
The release inform that the active subscriber-base declined by 3.5% compared to the previous quarter, and it reached to 48,000,000 in this period.
Robi’s voice revenue decreased by 14.2% compared to the previous quarter and by 18.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, it added.
However, the company gained in data sales in the pandemic time and attained 23.7% in revenue in the second quarter.
Robi has paid Tk804.3crore to the government exchequer in the quarter of 2020 and its CAPEX investment was Tk311crore.
