Grameenphone's net profits in the first quarter of 2016 increased 4.85 percent year-on-year to Tk 561 crore on the back of healthy growth in internet subscription and revenue.

"We passed a good quarter with double digit subscription and traffic revenue growth," said Rajeev Sethi, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, while unveiling the operator's first quarter results yesterday.

The company's shares rose 2.42 percent to Tk 240.3 on Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday. 

At the end of March, the lone-listed mobile operator's revenues stood at Tk 2,760 crore, up 9.52 percent from a year earlier.

Data usage raked in Tk 280 crore, which is 10.14 percent of the operator's first quarter revenues.

The operator added 41 lakh internet users to take its tally of active internet users to 1.99 crore.

"Our voice revenue is also growing, which is an encouraging sign that our competitive and simple offers are getting traction in the market," Sethi added.

The total subscriber base came down to 5.62 crore at the end of March from 5.66 crore three months earlier. The biometric verification and re-registration of SIM cards have been blamed for the decline.

"It's been pretty well-rounded performance. Good growth in data and good growth in value-added services coupled with significant growth in voice helped us cloak a double-digit growth in subscription and traffic revenue," said Sethi.

Referring to biometric SIM re-registration, he said 56 percent of Grameenphone users have been registered under the new mechanism.

Commenting on audit by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, Sethi said the audit is yet to start, as Grameenphone has sought some clarifications from the BTRC and the ministry. Hopefully, he said, this will be resolved with a logical conclusion.

Dilip Pal, chief financial officer of Grameenphone, said: "We have delivered four consecutive quarters of revenue growth, driven by strong commercial execution and continued investment in our 3G coverage expansion."

Healthy revenue growth and efficient spending resulted in improved earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin, according to Pal.

Earnings per share, which rose to Tk 4.15, also improved despite higher depreciation and amortisation, he added.

Grameenphone invested Tk 910 crore for the further rollout of 3G sites, expanded 2G coverage and capacity enhancement for higher volume of data and voice during the period.

It rolled out more than 1,800 new 3G sites to take the total 3G sites to around 7,600 and also taking the population coverage to 80 percent, according to Sethi. "We are well on our way to reaching the 10,000 3G sites by June," he said adding that it will help them boost internet revenue.

The operator paid Tk 1,420 crore to the state coffers during the period.