Robi profits slump

Robi's net profits declined 17.41 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of the year on the back of a rise in capital expenditure.

Between April and June, the operator raked in Tk 93.9 crore in profits, according to its unaudited financial report.

Increases in investment and operational expenses have impacted profitability, said Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, chief operating officer of Robi, at a press meet yesterday to announce the company's first half results.

"But we have been maintaining steady profits over the last three quarters."

During the April-June period, the company recorded Tk 1,295.2 crore in revenues, up 5.58 percent year-on-year.

The average revenue per user each month declined to Tk 144 in the second quarter from Tk 166 a year earlier.

The country's second biggest mobile operator in terms of revenue added 11 lakh new subscribers in the second quarter to take its total customer base to 2.74 crore.

In the second quarter last year, data accounted for 5 percent of the total revenue, which rose to 9 percent this year.

Data though accounted for 10 percent of the total revenue in the first quarter this year.

The decline was accredited to the introduction of Internet.org, a free internet service.

"We took up a 'zero internet' policy as our corporate social responsibility, so we are not counting it as our loss," said Ahmed.

Robi also demanded proper cost modelling by an international firm in light of the telecom regulator's intent to reduce the voice call rates.

"Having a proper cost model is very important for taking such decisions and we think that should be done by an international firm. We are in talks with the regulator about the issue and I believe we will come to a solution."

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission asked mobile phone operators earlier this week to submit their recommendations about the issue by August 31.

Asked about the BTRC drive to assess service quality of the mobile companies in rural areas, he said: "We welcome the move."

For the first time, Robi gave a breakdown of the handsets used by its subscribers: 16 percent are now using smartphones, up from 7 percent last year.