GP adds almost 1 million subscribers in Q3
Oct 29, 2009
Grameenphone Ltd. added almost 1 million new subscriptions in the third quarter of 2009, pushing the total subscription base near to 22 million. However, GP crossed 22Mn subscription base mark on 1st October. Acquisition of 822,000 new subscriptions this quarter was driven by a startup price campaign, on the occasion of Eid festival during and after the Holy month of Ramadan.
Revenue for this quarter was more than BDT 1,650 crores, compared to about BDT 1,500 crores in the same period of last year, indicating a 10% growth. This growth was driven by higher subscription base, higher average price per minute and revenue from International Gateway (IGW) introduced from the fourth quarter of 2008. This increase was, however, partially offset by reduced local and international interconnect rates.
Grameenphone CEO Oddvar Hesjedal, expressed his satisfaction with the subscription growth posted for the third quarter, “the market has just crossed the 50 million subscription mark and GP serves the largest share of that market (44%) among the operators. It pleases me that we have been successful in adding a significant amount of the new subscriptions to the market in the last quarter, which indicates that Grameenphone is the preferred service provider.”
Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 6% compared to same period of last year mainly as a result of a raised tariff floor.
“A rising ARPU is a good indicator for both the industry and a sign of slow economic recovery,” said the Grameenphone CEO. “However, reduction or removal of the BDT 800 SIM tax will help the economy recover sooner because internet and telecommunication penetration generates faster economic activity and community development,” he added.
EBITDA margin has also improved to 57% compared to the same period of last year of 48.9% due to higher revenue, combined with lower network operation and maintenance costs.
Capital expenditure was also lower during this quarter, in accordance with the current traffic demand.
Following the formal approval for Grameenphone's initial public offering (IPO) by The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Bangladesh in August, the subscription process opened on 4 October 2009 and continued till 8 October 2009 with overwhelming response and the offering was subscribed by more than three times.
The IPO Lottery was concluded at the Bangabandhu International Convention Center (BICC) on 28 October 2009, amidst huge, unprecedented participation from investors and the interested general public.
In total 312,501 shares were allocated with 277,757 for resident Bangladeshis, 34,720 allocated to Non-resident Bangladeshis and 24 to Mutual Funds.
Trading of the Grameenphone share at the Chittagong and Dhaka stock exchanges is anticipated to commence in November. This is subject to approval from the regulators and stock exchanges.
Public Relations Department
Grameenphone Ltd.
Telephone: 9882990
Website: www.grameenphone.com