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GP profit jumps on low acquisition costs

Star Business Report
Leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone's (GP) net profit jumped by 68 percent to Tk 320 crore by the end of 2008 compared to Tk 130 crore a year ago, mainly due to a decline in customer acquisition costs.
The company's operating profit however dropped by 10.33 percent to NOK 1,111 million by the end of 2008, compared to NOK 1,239 million a year ago. (NOK 1 =BDT 12.16).
"While it continues to grow, our subscriber growth is effected by the existing high SIM tax, which limits affordability for customers with limited incomes," said Oddvar Hesjedal, GP chief executive officer, at a press conference in Dhaka yesterday.
"Nonetheless, we have consolidated our position in the market and closed the year on a positive curve," he added.
Grameenphone's significant profit rise may bring good news to the prospective shareholders of the company. The company's share offloading through IPO (initial public offering) is in the final stage, waiting for stock market regulator's nod.
GP added 4.51 million customers in 2008, which is around 1.5 million less than it was a year
ago. Along with low customer acquisition, the company also reduced subsidy for each connection from Tk 800 to Tk 300, which ultimately helped earn a significant profit.
In 2007, the company added around6million customers.
GP's monthly average revenue per user however reduced by 7 percent to NOK 22 in 2008 from NOK 28 a year ago.
"We followed a conscious business strategy in 2008 which basically helped earn significant profit," said Md Arif Al Islam, chief financial officer of the company.
"We didn't go for a 'loss marketing' and therefore had a stable year," he said at the press meet.
Norway's telecom giant Telenor owns 62 percent of the company, which launched operation in 1997, with the rest 38 percent being held by local GrameenTelecom.
The full year performance in terms of revenue earnings also saw a positive trend. The company's revenue increased by around 13 percent at the end of December 2008 to NOK 5,049 million compared to NOK 4,622 million in December 2007.
According to its financial report (January-December) posted by Telenor, GP's market share in terms of subscriber base
also remained 47 percent by the end of December 2008.
GP's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was NOK 2,342 million in 2008, which was NOK 2,122 in 2007.
Telenor said GP's revenues increased mainly on usage growth, revenue from newly established International Gateway and booking of accumulated interconnectivity reve-nues from Bangladesh
Telecommunications Company Ltd since the fourth quarter of 2007.
GP is the Bangladesh's market leader among the six mobile operators having 20.99 million customers followed by
Banglalink's 10.33 million and AKTEL's 8.20 million.
According to Telenor group financial report, the Norwegian telecom operator posted lower net profits tor the fourth quarter and 2008, warning it would feel the full effect of the global economic crisis this year, an AFP report said.
Last year, Telenor saw its net profit slump by 26.1 percent to 13.31 billion kroner (1.53 billion euros, 1.98 billion dollars), with its fourth quarter net profit slashed by more than a third to 2.21 billion kroner.
"The telecom sector has so far been less affected by the global recession than other industries," company Chief Executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas said in the financial statement.
"As a result, the focus in 2009 will be on cost efficiency and capex (capital expenditure) control," he added.
For 2009, Telenor said it expected sales to be "in line" with its 2008 figure with an EBITDA margin of around 34 percent.
Last year, the company's EBITDA margin stood at 35 percent while its sales grew by 5.1 percent to 97.19 billion kroner on a year-on-year basis. In pro forma terms, sales meanwhile grew 5.7 percent to 111 billion kroner, Telenor said.