Robi posts 85% profit growth in Q1

Robi Axiata Limited, the country's second-largest telecom operator, reported an 85.2% year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit for the first quarter of FY26.

For the January-March quarter, net profit stood at Tk232 crore, up from Tk125 crore in the same period last year. Consolidated revenue rose 8.1% to Tk2,531 crore from Tk2,341 crore year-on-year.

The company released its unaudited financial statement today (7 May), the day its share price closed at Tk29.60 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). Earnings per share (EPS) increased to Tk0.44 from Tk0.24 a year earlier.

Robi said its active subscriber base stood at 5.74 crore in Q1 FY26, with 4.45 crore data users and 4.03 crore 4G subscribers. Average monthly data usage per user reached 8.95 GB, up 15.4% year-on-year.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to Tk1,350.3 crore, with a 53.3% margin. The company said EBITDA grew 21.6% year-on-year, with the margin improving by 5.9 percentage points, driven by cost discipline.

On the network side, Robi operated over 19,300 4G sites at the end of the quarter, covering 98.98% of the population.

Compared to the previous quarter, revenue fell 2.1%, which the company attributed mainly to fewer calendar days. However, average data usage per user rose 6.1%, while EBITDA increased 4.3% and margin expanded by 3.3 percentage points.

Robi Managing Director and CEO Ziad Shatara said the results reflected strong performance despite challenging conditions, noting that the company achieved 8.1% year-on-year growth.

He said this growth came despite adverse socio-economic pressures intensified by the West Asia conflict, adding that AI-driven personalised offerings and sustained network investment supported performance, while disciplined cost and investment management helped ensure healthy profits, with further improvement expected as economic conditions strengthen.