ZCZC
BSS-23
ROBI-REVENUE
Robi earns Tk 6,798cr in 2018
DHAKA, Feb 22, 2019 (BSS) – Despite registering a loss of Taka 96 crore in fourth quarter, Robi earned Taka 6,798 crore in 2018 and ended the year with a slim profit of Taka 215 crore due to the selling of its share in the tower company.
“Following the completion of merger in 2016, this is the first year, the merged company, Robi, made profit as a result of this one-off adjustment,” said a Robi press release.
By the end of 2018, Robi’s subscriber base stood at 46.9 million, representing 29.9 percent of the subscriber market share. Out of the total subscriber base of 46.9 million, 60.4 percent or 28.3 million subscribers are using data services.
With revenue of Taka 1,764 crore in fourth quarter of 2018 (Q4’2018), Robi ended 2018 with a total revenue of Taka 6,798 crore. Compared to Q3’2018, the Q4’2018 revenue grew by 0.7 percent. However, from the perspective of Year-on-Year (Q4’2017 Vs Q4’2018) comparison, Robi’s total revenue declined by 5.1 percent at the end of Q4’2018.
Robi’s voice revenue declined by 1.1 percent compared to Q3’2018. However, in light of Year-on-Year (YoY) comparison, Q4’2018 voice revenue was 11 percent higher than Q4’2017. Spurred by the rapid expansion of the 4.5G network, Robi’s data revenue grew by 14.9 percent, YoY compared to Q3’2018, the data revenue in Q4’2018 grew by 6.9 percent.
Commenting on the financial performance of the company, Robi’s Managing Director and CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said “It is very clear that our aggressive investment in 4.5G service is paying dividends in terms of robust growth of data revenue.
However, excessive price competition in data service is not helping to compensate for the declining revenue from our voice service due to increased use of various over-the-top mobile applications.
In this backdrop, we urged upon the government to immediately set a floor price for data service to ensure sustainability of the industry.”
BSS/PR/KUC/MMA/1829hrs