Robi sees 17.6% rise in Q1 profit, despite revenue drop

Robi Axiata Limited, the country's second-largest telecom operator, has announced a 17.6% year-on-year increase in profit for the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2024-25, despite a decline in revenue.

In the July-September period, its net profit stood at Tk125 crore, up from Tk107 crore in the same period last year.

Robi released its unaudited financial report for the first quarter on Thursday (15 May), with its share price closing at Tk24.60 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on the day.

However, the company attributed the revenue decline to continued reductions in data prices, which have negatively impacted earnings. The prolonged economic downturn further affected Robi's financial results, reflecting broader challenges faced by the telecom industry.

During the September quarter, the mobile operator's consolidated revenue decreased by 7% year-on-year, falling to Tk2,341 crore from Tk2,516 crore in the same period last year.

Voice revenue declined by 0.7% year-on-year, while data revenue dropped significantly by 11.4%.

Moreover, Robi had to contribute 70% of its Q1'25 revenue to the government exchequer in various forms, aggravating the company's financial difficulties during the quarter.

Robi's active subscriber base reached 5.64 crore, marking a quarter-on-quarter drop of 3.7 lakh and a year-on-year decline of 17 lakh.

Its internet subscriber base stood at 4.25 crore, with 4G users totalling 3.67 crore.

Interestingly, 75.5% of active subscribers were internet users and 65% were 4G users. In terms of the proportion of active users, Robi leads the industry in both categories.

Robi said following the increase in SIM tax from Tk200 to Tk300 in the last national budget, it has been carefully formulating its customer acquisition strategies to recover its subscriber base, which was impacted by last year's political unrest.

By the end of the quarter, Robi had ensured 4G coverage for 98.97% of the population through more than 18,000 4G sites. The company invested Tk74.7 crore in capital expenditures during the quarter.

Earnings per share (EPS) stood at Tk0.24, up 17.6% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Average monthly data usage per user increased by 4.3% quarter-on-quarter and by 18.1% year-on-year.

In total, Robi paid Tk1,627.9 crore to the government exchequer in Q1, which accounted for 70% of its revenue during the quarter.

Robi Acting CEO and Chief Financial Officer M Riaz Rashid said that despite a 20% cut in data prices boosting usage, it failed to sustain revenue growth. Economic stagnation, inflation, and rising costs further impacted earnings, he said. 

Following the SIM tax hike, Robi is cautiously pursuing new customer acquisition, Rashid said, adding that while they hope for economic recovery, the steep drop in data prices remains a major concern.