Grameenphone's net profits in the first quarter of the year increased 3.68 percent year-on-year to Tk 535 crore amid challenging business conditions.

"We've had a rough start to the year due to political turmoil and intense competition," Rajeev Sethi, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, said at the unveiling of the first quarter results yesterday.

The lone listed mobile operator reported revenues ofTk 2,520 crore, up marginally from Tk 2,492 crore recorded for the same period last year.

"With our prudent granular level efficiency initiatives, we have managed to extract profitable growth during the quarter," Dilip Pal, chief financial officer of Grameenphone, said. The sum though is the lowest in the last four quarters, he added.

The operator reported revenues of Tk 2,620 crore in the second quarter of last year, Tk 2,560 core in the third quarter and Tk2,590 crore in the last quarter.

White political turmoil and heavy competition piled on pressure, the cricket World Cup provided some relief, he said.

During the quarter, Crameenphone acquired five lakh new subscribers, taking the subscription base to 5.2 aore. Service revenue grew by 0.8 percent year-on-year, white customer equipment and other revenues increased 5.2 percent year-on-year.

Growth in service revenue was mainly driven by data and value added service: data revenue rose 67.9 percent year-on-year and VAS 37.2 percent.

The operator invested Tk 370 crore during the quarter for further rollout of 3G sites, 2G coverage and capacity enhancement for catering higher volume of data and voice as well as flexibility of IT infrastruaure for better produa and service offerings.

It paid Tk 1,210 aore to the national exchequer during the period. Crameenphone share prices closed 0.70 percent lower at Tk322.6 yesterday.