Leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone (GP)'s net profit for the first quarter of 2021 clocked at Tk890.63 crore, a 16.68% drop from the same period last year.
Similarly, its reported earnings per share (EPS) of Tk6.6 was also a drop from Tk7.92 for the same period last year, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.
The operator witnessed a de-growth of 3.7% year-on-year in Q1 this year to Tk3,481.26 crore.
With 17 lakh new subscribers in the same quarter, their subscriber base rose to 8.07 crore, of which, 4.17 crore were using the internet services.
"Several significant milestones were achieved in the first three months of 2021. With the acquisition of 10.4 MHz spectrum, GP holds 47.4 MHz of spectrum. During the first quarter we acquired 17 lakh subscribers crossing the 8 crore milestone, while with a year-on-year growth of 50.7%, we reached 2.15 crore 4G users," said Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone.
GP CFO Jens Becker said: "As we approached the one-year mark of Covid-19 in Bangladesh, the increasing detection rate led to the current strict restrictive measures taken by the government."
Grameenphone’s total number of sites stands at 16,852, GP said.
The company has paid Tk2,732 crore equaling 78.5% of its total revenues to the national exchequer in the form of taxes, VAT, duties, fees, 4G license and spectrum assignment in the first three months of 2021, it said.
