Grameenphone holds 24th annual general meeting

The 24th annual general meeting of Grameenphone Ltd. was concluded successfully for the second consecutive time on Monday.

In compliance with the instructions by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and considering the health and safety of all the attending shareholders, staff, and others during the ongoing Covid-19 situation, the meeting was conducted virtually over a digital platform, reads a press release.

Chair of Grameenphone Board Jorgen C. ArentzRostrup; its ECO Yasir Azman, and other board members and senior officials of the company, were present at the meeting, conducted by the company Secretary, S M Imdadul Haque.

Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman said, "In 2020, we were agile, innovative and delivered a solid performance by running our operations following contingent ways of work in the face of Covid-19 pandemic and natural calamities while ensuring the safety of our employees and our supply chain partners."

"We are grateful to the Government, regulators, authorities, and development partners for their guidance and collaboration in our endeavours to devise a series of responses; to aid frontline health professionals, stand by the most vulnerable members of our community, driving mass awareness, and keeping our network up and running during the most challenging time." 

Chair of Grameenphone Board Jorgen C. ArentzRostrup said, "Our focus for the year ahead will be to ensure Grameenphone's long-term sustainability. We continue to adapt to the challenges of the current Covid-19 reality. The company focuses on ensuring a better network experience, ensuring growth, innovation, modernization, and stand by society with responsible business conduct."

Bangladesh is celebrating 50 years of nationhood and aims to become a high-income country. As a connectivity partner on this journey, Grameenphone looks forward to contributing to unlock the future of Bangladesh by delivering on the new-normal customer needs. We are firmly committed to delivering value to our shareholders and our customers, the official added.

For the year 2020, the Board of directors of the company has announced a final dividend in cash at the rate of 145% of the paid-up capital, or BDT 14.5 per share of BDT 10 each. With this cash dividend pay-out, the total cash dividend stands at 275% of the paid-up capital, including the previous 130% interim cash dividend pay-out, amounting to 99.86% of Profit After Tax for the year 2020.

Grameenphone wants to remain fixated on its operational efficiencies and strategies to ensure better coverage and customer-driven initiatives. The company has acquired an additional 10.4 MHz spectrum in the BTRC auction, amounting to a total of 47.4 MHz spectrum.

Additionally, Grameenphone has also celebrated 50 years of Bangladesh on March 26, 2021, by announcing all its 15,500 towers 4G enabled across Bangladesh. Now, the company is well-positioned further to boost customer experience and contribute to the digitalisation of Bangladesh and meet the growing need for high-speed internet in the rural and urban areas.