Banglalink revenue up 23pc in Q3

Banglalink’s revenue rose 23 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2012, the operator’s parent company Orascom Telecom Holdings said in a statement yesterday.

The revenue, of Tk 1,180 crore, came on the back of favourable exchange rate, increase in subscriber base, higher usage of internet and value-added services, reactivation promotions and targeted acquisitions of the higher value segment.

Banglalink achieved an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of Tk 350 crore for the quarter, a 9 percent increase from the previous year, according to the statement.

The operator, with its subscriber base of 2.75 crore, has a 27.5 percent market share, and comes in second behind Grameenphone.

Mobile operator Banglalink reported third-quarter revenues up 22.9 percent from a year earlier to BDT 11.8 billion, mirroring a 21 percent rise in its customer base. The Bangladesh operator finished September with a total 26.776 million customers, generating average revenue of BDT 149 each, up 1.4 percent from a year earlier.

Growth in the quarter was supported by promotions ahead of new regulations that took effect in October, which require a post-activation process for new connection sales. These higher subscriber acquisition costs led to a fall in the EBITDA margin, to 29.4 percent from 34.3 a year ago. Total EBITDA was up 9.4 percent to BDT 3.5 billion.