Robi's net profit slides 57pc in first quarter

Mobile operator Robi's net profit dropped 57.17 percent year-on-year to Tk 39.7 crore in the January-March period, the lowest in 11 quarters, as a result of sharp competition and a slowdown for biometric SIM registration.

Robi posted Tk 92.7 crore in net profits in the first quarter of last year, the operator's Malaysia-based parent company Axiatia Group said in the quarterly report on its website.

Robi, the third largest carrier, clocked up Tk 1,183.5 crore in revenue in the first quarter of the year, while its growth declined 2.7 percent year-on-year, the lowest in eight quarters, according to the report.

Robi officials in Dhaka did not make any comment on the issue.

Axiatia said the operator's first quarter performance was affected by external factors such as heightened competition and an industry-wide drop in the subscriber base impacted by biometric registration that began in December.

The number of data subscribers, however, grew 8.3 percent year-on-year to 1.3 crore in the first quarter, contributing to an increase of 19.1 percent in data revenue. Data accounted for 12.4 percent of the operator's revenue during the quarter.

Axiatia's report showed that the operator's active subscribers, smartphone penetration and average revenue per user every month declined compared to the immediate past quarter.

Robi's active subscribers at the end of March stood at 2.75 crore, which was 2.83 crore at the end of December last year.

Robi is now awaiting a merger with Airtel to become the second largest operator in Bangladesh after Grameenphone.

Currently, the operator's smartphone penetration stood 18 percent, which even reached 20 percent by the end of December, Axiatia's report reads. The operator's average monthly income against every subscriber was Tk 149 that came down to Tk 135. Both prepaid and postpaid subscriber spending also declined, according to the report.

Though Robi was the third largest operator by subscribers and second in terms of revenue in the last couple of years, the setback pushed them back to third position in revenue, after Banglalink and Grameenphone.

Banglalink recorded Tk 1,220 crore in revenue in the first quarter although it did not mention its profitability position.

Grameenphone secured Tk 2,760 crore in revenue in the same period, with Tk 560 crore in net profits, according to the operator's quarterly report.