Banglalink posts 8.6% revenue growth in 1st quarter of 2022

With the help of newly launched digital products and 4G network expansion, Banglalink has managed to record an 8.6% Year on Year (YoY) revenue growth in 1st quarter of 2022.

In the January to March period, the third largest mobile operator registered Tk1,242crore revenue, up from Tk1,144 crore in the same period last year.

VEON, Banglalink's parent company, published the 1Q22 Trading Update on Thursday globally. It, however, did not disclose the profit of the period.

Commenting on the results, Erik Aas, chief executive officer of Banglalink, said that the revenue growth clearly demonstrates the telco's consistent performance.

"A 4.8% YoY growth in our customer base shows how actively the customers are embracing our super-fast 4G internet and innovative digital services. Moreover, Banglalink managed to increase its market share in 1Q22," he said.

Mobile data services in the quarter remained strong, with data usage increasing 56.3% YoY, contributing to a 22.1% YoY growth in mobile data revenue during 1Q22.

Talking about data driven growth, the Banglalink CEO said, "Toffee continued to perform well in the digital service segment, with its monthly active user base reaching 6.3 million during the quarter. We have recently introduced two more digital services - Health Hub and Applink - to facilitate healthcare and local app development."

He said "Along with expanding our digital services portfolio, we are carrying out a 4G network expansion and modernisation drive to reach our target of double-digit growth. The recently acquired 40 MHz spectrum and newly built base stations will help us in this regard."

Among the three private operators, at present Banglalink has the maximum radio frequency infrastructure against per million users.

In the recent spectrum auction, Banglalink acquired 40 MHz in the 2.3 GHz band, bringing the spectrum total to 80MHz.

In the first quarter of this year, the operator invested a total of Tk403crore for network expansion, which is 81% higher than 2021's first quarter.

After the January-March period, the operator's total subscriber base reached 3.59 crore from 3.43 crore last year.

At the end of March, the total number of mobile subscribers in the country reached 18.29 crore.