Grameenphone Ltd. reported BDT 2,067 crore revenues for the first quarter of 2011, a solid BDT 363 crore and 21.3% increase from first quarter of 2010. The growth was mainly from voice, data and interconnection traffic driven by 33.8% growth in subscription base as well as revenues from sale of mobile devices. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, increment in revenue was BDT 109 crores representing a 5.5% growth.

 “I am very happy to present our shareholders a strong first quarter result where we have maintained the growth momentum in revenue and subscription base,” said Tore Johnsen, CEO, Grameenphone Ltd. GP outreached the rural market by expanding its distribution coverage to over 186,000 retail points while customized product and service innovation such as dynamic pricing, a location-based discount offer in tariff, and Bangla contents in low cost handsets have helped the rural people to harness the full benefit of the mobile technology. Tore added, “The number of internet users during the first quarter of 2011 has grown by 61% compared to a year ago, which indicates the market preparedness for 3G technology.”

During the quarter, GP added 20 lakh subscriptions and ended with close to 3.2 crore subscription base serving 43.8% of the mobile market. Grameenphone CEO noted that “it is encouraging to see most of our new subscribers are from the rural areas and we have managed to capture our fair share of the market growth.”

Net profit after taxes for the first quarter of 2011 was BDT 287 crores with 13.9% margin compared to BDT 316 crores with 18.5% margin of Q1’10. Despite the revenue growth, the fall in margin was mainly due to heavy subsidy of BDT 209 crores in Q1’11 compared to BDT 81 crores in Q1’10. This has also placed the EBITDA margins down at 47.8% for the first quarter of 2011 compared to 55.4% of same period of 2010. As a result, Earnings per share (EPS) for Q1’11 was BDT 2.12 compared to BDT 2.34 of Q1’10.

Grameenphone has started swapping of its entire network with Huaweii equipments. This future-proof technology will bring network efficiency, enable the company to provide better services to its subscribers and prepare the network for 3G. This will also bring in significant reduction in operational costs in terms of power consumption.

During Q1’11, Grameenphone invested BDT 206 crores in network modernization and capacity enhancement. Since inception, Grameenphone invested over 16,000 crores across the country while contributed BDT 19,446 crores to the national exchequer.

Along with three other mobile operators, Grameenphone's mobile cellular license will expire on 10 November 2011. The concerned authorities have initiated discussions with the four renewing operators based on their initial feedback on the renewal guidelines published by BTRC early this year. “We believe the regulators will hear our say and secure the best interest of general people of the country”, said Tore Johnsen. “A stable and long term telecom policy is needed to stimulate industry growth and enable the operators to make further investments in new services and technologies”, he added.

Grameenphone conducted its 14th Annual General Meeting on 19 April 2011 amidst huge participation of the shareholders and once again, maintained a benchmark of compliance with all regulations. The shareholders approved the financial statements and 120% cash final dividend for the year 2010 among other agenda. It is to be noted that more than 41,000 of the shareholders with online banking facility received their cash dividend within 24 hours after the completion of the meeting – as a part of the company's commitment to its shareholders for fast track dividend payment.

“Gramenphone's commitment towards the society is unwavering and we shall strive to offer the best telecommunication solutions at affordable price and continue to generate long term value for our shareholders” commented Tore Johnsen, the newly appointed CEO who took over office in March 2011. He expressed his optimism that the upcoming National Budget for 2011-12 will address the issues raised by the mobile operators for securing a healthy growth of this sector to be able to contribute to attaining the dream of a digital Bangladesh.

Corporate Communications
Grameenphone Ltd.
Telephone: 9882990
www.grameenphone.com