Grameen phone revenues up 17% in Q3 (Bangladesh)
Grameen phone, Bangladesh’s top mobile phone operator revealed its quarter results. The company saw an increase of 17% in revenue to US$273 million and also added 5.4 million new users so far this year. Grameen phone is 55.8% owned by Norway’s Telenor.
According to the company, revenue growth was mainly in voice as well as interconnection due to subscription increases. Data revenue also increased by 68% compared to last year. The company did not give a figure for adjusted core earnings but revealed that EBITDA was down 50% in the first nine months of the year because it had reduced its retail prices in the amount of 5.25 billion taka to absorb the government’s SIM card tax.
Net profit for the first nine months of 2010 was US$0.109 billion compared to US$0.092 billion the previous year.
According to Grameen phone Chief Executive Oddvar Hesjedal, the SIM tax had hindered the digitalization of the mobile industry in Bangladesh, which had also hit companies’ profitability. However, the company’s strategy of lowering connection fees for new customers was paying off in revenue growth.
Grameen phone, which raised US$70 million in an initial public offering (IPO) last year that was the impoverished country’s biggest ever, invested 4.46 billion taka during the first nine months in 2010 to improve network quality and enhance data capacity.
Comm Min asks DoT to look at mobile SVCs on border trading pts
The Commerce Ministry has asked the Department of Telecom to look into the possibility of allowing mobile services at border trading points with China, Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to help increase the flow of import and export from these land ports.
Taking up the issue of poor connectivity, the commerce ministry in a letter to DoT, said since no Indian operator was allowed to operate within 10 km of the international border, Indian traders were at a disadvantage.
With the government recently opening up Nathu La pass for trade with China, it has come to notice that mobile phones of Indian traders catch up signals of China Mobile.
Similarly, at the trading points with Bangladesh, Indian mobile phones catch signals of Grameen phones of Bangladesh.
The Commerce Ministry wanted dot to look at the possibility of allowing mobile services at more than 15 border trading points that India has opened with Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Myanmar and Pakistan.
As per cellular mobile service license and unified access service license, an operator requires government clearance for providing mobile service and setting up of base trans-receiver station within 10 km of the international border.
To increase trade with neighbours from land routes, the government is looking at opening more border trading posts. Recently, the cabinet had approved a plan to establish Land Ports Authority of India to manage these posts.
During Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit last month, a proposal was mooted to open two more trading posts with China at Demchok in Ladakh and Bumla in Arunanchal Pradesh.
