Norwegian Telenor’s Grameenphone in Bangladesh sees turnaround after rough outing

By

Sheuli Akter

Grameenphone, of NorwegianTelenor Group, the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh, has reported revenue of BDT 104.8 billion for 2015, up 2.0% from last year.

The company says its subscription and traffic revenue (excluding inter-connection) grew by 2.4% along with 3.5% growth in device and other revenues.

Data revenue growth of 66% and VAS growth of 31% are the main contributors to this during the year, they said.

During the 4th quarter, Grameenphone officials at a press conference in Dhaka Monday said subscription and traffic revenue grew by 5.2% compared to that of 2014.

GP acquired 5.2 million new subscriptions, taking the subscription base to 56.7 million. This 10% subscription growth took the SIM market share to a stable one of 42.4%. Data subscribers grew by 45% to 15.7 million and data volume almost grew by 3 times during the year.

“GP continued with the performance momentum after the challenging start of the year. Data went on to be the primary growth driver, while voice was under stress from competitive offers”, said Rajeev Sethi, CEO of Grameenphone Ltd. He added, “Going forward we have set out an ambition of growth and value creation by taking the position as our customers’ favorite partner in digital life.”

Net profit after taxes for the period was BDT 19.7 billion compared to BDT 19.8 billion of 2014. Efficiency in operating expenditure led to a healthy EBITDA (before other items) of BDT 56 billion with 53.4% margin. Earnings per share (EPS) for the year stood at BDT 14.59.

“We managed to deliver profitable growth amidst the subdued top line performance for 2015. Our EBITDA (before other items) grew by 2.8% in comparison to 2.0% revenue growth. Earnings were stable despite higher depreciation & amortization as well as charging off one-time appeal payment related to the SIM replacement tax dispute”, said Dilip Pal, CFO of Grameenphone Ltd.

GP invested BDT 19.3 billion during the year to further rollout of 3G sites, 2G coverage, capacity enhancement for catering higher volume of data and voice as well as enhancement of IT infrastructure for better product and service offerings. Meanwhile, GP, the largest contributor to exchequer paid BDT 51.1 billion, comprising 48.8% of total revenue to the national exchequer during the year in the form of taxes, VAT, duties and license fees.

The Board of Directors of Grameenphone Ltd. have recommended final dividend for the year 2015 in cash at the rate of 60% of the paid up capital (i.e. BDT 6 per share of BDT 10 each) based on the decision taken at the Board Meeting held on 7 February 2016. With this, the total cash dividend stands at 140% of paid up capital which represents 96% of Profit After Tax for the year 2015 (including 80% interim cash dividend). The Shareholders as of the record date of 29 February 2016 will be entitled for this finaldividend, which is subject to the Shareholders’ approval at the 19th AGM to be held on 19 April 2016.

Sheuli Akter

Sheuli Akter, from Bangladesh, is a Special Correspondent and Editor of NsNewsWire, (Bangladesh’s First Press Newswire). Previously she had worked for Bangladesh’ top news agency, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) and top newspaper (now defunct) The Bangladesh Observer. She also gained an honourable mention in the first ever World Media Summit WMS Awards for ‘Exemplary News Professionals in Developing Countries’, receiving the award in Beijing in January 2015.