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Robi's net profits double

Star Business Report
Net profits of mobile operator Robi more than doubled to Tk 25.9 crore in the second quarter this year compared to the first quarter.
Net profits in the first quarter were atTk 11.6 crore.
Its revenue rose by 26.2 percent to Tk 962.7 crore in the second quarter (April-June) compared to the same period a year ago, said its officials at a briefing at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka yesterday.
Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, chief financial officer of Robi, said the company has shown strong growth trends in almost all financial metrics amid strong growth in revenue and heightened operational efficiencies.
The revenue growth was higher due to a rise in the number of subscribers. The operator spent around Tk 80 as subsidy for each new subscriber acquisition, Ahmed said.
The company added 15 lakh new subscribers in the second quarter, which is a 26 percent rise compared to the same period in the previous year.
“We have achieved Tk 324.4 crore in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the quarter, driven by higher revenue and operational efficiency."
Steadily increasing EBITDA margin reached 33.7 percent in the period, the highest in the last six quarters.
"With a growth in EBITDA, stabil-
ity in foreign exchange environment brought positive growth in our profit after tax,” said Ahmed.
He said Robi's geographical coverage increased to 89 percent and population coverage to 98.7 after its network development.
The operator set up 37 new base transceivers (BTS) in the quarter, taking the total number to 8,392 now.
The company’s capital expenditure was Tk 228 crore in the period, while it has invested a total of Tk 7,963 crore since its inception.
Robi contributed Tk 393.2 crore to the state coffer in the quarter, according to a statement.
The operator has recently crossed the two crore subscriber base, while
other two big operators --Grameenphone and Banglalink — have 3.98 crore and2.57 crore users.
Michael Kuehner, managing director and CEO, said the market has a very high growth despite the unpredictable regulatory environment and uncompromising tax regime.
He also said, as 5-6 percent of their revenue comes through valued added services (VAS), the new VAS guideline would affect their earnings.
According to the draft VAS guideline, the telecom operators will no more be able to provide such services; those will be provided by other licensed entities.
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In the statement Robi said it has launched various innovative products and services such as Ebar Hobei, Reviving Jamdani Motif, Axiata roaming in 58 countries, affordable handset bundles, postpaid revamp, voucher-based recharge, and data bundle offers.
As part of its corporate social responsibility, Robi has been providing treatment to children suffering from clubfeet deformity.
It has already provided free treatment to 224 such children and 154 disabled children.
Robi has launched basic computer training by its own employees to increase IT literacy in remote areas of the country.
The company has also continued its English learning initiatives in secondary schools. It has organised 134 language fairs in 311 schools for 26,800 students.
Chief Marketing Officer Pradeep Shrivastava and Executive Vice President Mahmudur Rahman also spoke.