Robi's net profit falls as operating cost rises

Robi's net profit declined 8.96 percent year-on-year last year, although its revenue crossed Tk 5,000 crore for the first time, its parent company Axiata Group said in a report.

Robi's net profit declined to Tk 400.3 core last year from Tk 439.7 crore in 2014, according to Kuala Lumpur-based Axiata's financial statement.

The main reason for the decline is a rise in its operating costs, Axiata said. In addition, a rise in depreciation and amortisation has also had an effect on the company's profit.

Robi will organise a press conference in the first week of March on the issue and will reply to queries, said Ekram Kabir, the company's vice president for communications and corporate responsibility.

Robi, the second largest operator in terms of revenue and the third by subscribers, recorded that its gross revenue rose 6.01 percent year-on-year to Tk 5,239.50 crore last year.

Prior to Robi, the only telecom operator in Bangladesh to have achieved this landmark was Grameenphone. Last year, Grameenphone, the largest carrier, recorded Tk 10,480 crore in gross revenue.

Robi's profit margin declined to 7.64 percent in 2015 from 8.89 percent a year earlier.

The operator saw 78.9 percent growth in the data segment last year, although it did not mention the exact figure in its statement.

It said data revenue accounted for Tk 523.95 crore or 10 percent of gross revenue last year, compared to Tk 296.54 crore or 6 percent of its total receipts in 2014.

Robi's data growth would have accelerated further if the government had not banned Facebook and some other communication applications from November 18 to December 10.

Despite heightened competition in Bangladesh, Robi delivers subscriber growth of 12 percent year-on-year to 2.83 crore as it aspires to be a leader in the data market through device sales and co-branding.

Robi saw progress in smartphone penetration under its network in 2015: 20 percent of its subscribers are using smartphones now, which was 12 percent a year ago.

The average use of voice minutes also declined to 147 minutes a user per month last year, which was 164 minutes in 2014. Meanwhile, revenue per user for a month dropped to Tk 143 in 2015 from Tk 161 in the previous year.