Dhaka [July15, 2020] Grameenphone Ltd. reported total revenues of BDT 33.1 billion for the second quarter of 2020, registering an 8.2% de-growth from the same period last year. Net profit after taxes (NPAT) for the second quarter was BDT 7.3 billion, with 22.0% margin. Earnings per share (EPS) for the period stood at BDT 5.38. The operator reported 74.5 Mn total customers, of which 54.8%, or 40.8 Mn, are internet customers.
“For the past four months, we have been experiencing the impact of an unprecedented global pandemic which has driven us to drastically change our way of work and how we serve our customers. In addition to COVID-19, we have experienced impact from challenging weather and regulatory scenario, all of which combined has driven us to a de-growth in our performance compared to last year.” said Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone Ltd. “While we have had our fair share of struggles, as an essential service, we prioritized in ensuring uninterrupted services for our customers across the country.
“We worked relentlessly with our partners, stakeholders, law enforcement and local communities during severe weather conditions, resulting in fast recovery from network outage post Cyclone Amphan.”
Azman said, “As a part of our COVID-19 responses we have taken several initiatives including our partnership with BRAC for “Dakche Amar Desh” which enabled us to provide emergency food assistance to 100,000 affected families. We supported hospitals with medical grade PPEs for front line doctors. Having focused on transformation and modernization of our organization over the past few years, we have been able to rapidly adapt to our new way of work, allowing our employees to safely work from home with digital enablement so that we can continue our responsibilities as a listed essential service during this pandemic.”
“The second quarter of 2020 has been challenging for Grameenphone as we experienced an overall slow-down of economy due to the general holidays which started to gradually recover from May,” said Jens Becker, CFO of Grameenphone Ltd. “We experienced de-growth in subscription and traffic revenues, even though data revenue stayed on track. Our commitment remains to investing in the country and using our technology expertise to aide the government in battling COVID-19. We are pleased to announce that the Grameenphone Board of Directors declared interim dividend at the rate of 130% of paid up capital.”
During the second quarter, Grameenphone Ltd. invested BDT 2.5 Bn for network coverage, adding 132 new 4G sites to their network. The total number of sites stands at 16,557. The company has paid BDT 46.4 Bn equaling 67 % of its total revenues, to the national exchequer in the form of taxes, VAT, duties, fees, 4G license and spectrum assignment.
Detailed Financial Statements are available at: https://www.grameenphone.com/about/investor-relations/ir-financial-report
Md Hasan,
Head of External Communications
Email: md.hasan@grameenphone.com
Phone: 8801711082469
About Grameenphone Ltd.
Grameenphone, part of the Telenor Group, is a leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh with more than 76 million subscribers. Since its inception in 1997, Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country, covering nearly 95 percent of the country's population. With its brand promise to enable customers to “Go beyond”, Grameenphone seeks to help customers get the full benefit of mobile data and voice services and provide Internet For All. Grameenphone is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. www.grameenphone.com: www.facebook.com/grameenphone