The country’s leading telecom and information communication technology (ICT) service provider, the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) posted a 5.7 per cent growth in its revenue, owing to a robust commercial strategy during the first six months of 2022.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, in the Board of Directors’ meeting held here on Monday.
After the meeting, Chief Financial Officer Mohammad Nadeem Khan briefed the media and said that PTCL Group’s revenue of Rs 71.7 billion in 2022 is 5.7 per cent higher compared to the same period of last year.
He said, that PTCL Group’s profitability remained under pressure due to a significant hike in power and fuel tariffs, devaluation of the rupee against the dollar, higher interest rates, and other factors like upfront costs associated with the acquisition of the 4G spectrum and related network rollout.
“Despite all the difficulties the Group has posted a net loss of Rs 3.1 billion,” he said, adding that PTCL continued its growth momentum by posting 4.7 per cent Year on Year (YoY) revenue growth.
He further said that PTML’s (Ufone) revenue grew by 3.5 per cent as compared to the same period of last year, while U Bank has achieved a 25.0 per cent growth in its revenue over the same period of last year.
“PTCL Group’s revenue of Rs 40.0 billion for the said period is 4.7 per cent higher than the same period of 2021, mainly driven by growth in broadband and business solutions segments,” he said.
He said that the PTCL Group’s has posted an operating profit of Rs 1.9 billion and a net profit of Rs 5.2 billion which is 38.8 per cent higher compared to the same period of last year.
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“Increase in non-operating income, due to a translation gain on the PTCL Group’s forex denominated assets, dividend income from a subsidiary and gain on disposal of obsolete assets due to upgrade and fiberisation of the network, has helped turn the 32.6 per cent decrease in operating profit level with a 38.8 per cent increase in the net profit level” he added.
While sharing PTCL Group’s consumer, business, he said that during the half year, the company’s fixed broadband business grew by 10.7 per cent YoY, whereas the IPTV segment also showed 8.6 per cent growth YoY.
Within the broadband business, Flash Fiber, the company’s premium FTTH service, showed significant growth of 91.7 per cent. The voice revenue stream has seen a decline due to lower voice traffic and continued conversion of customers to OTT services.
“PTCL Group has achieved consistent performance and enhanced customer experience on the back of the company’s seamless fixed broadband, including the fastest internet service in Pakistan through the Flash Fiber brand. It has expanded its FTTH services in 28 cities, and the subscriber base has doubled on a YoY basis as the company continued to tap into the demand for growing internet and data services,” Khan said.
Chief Financial Officer added that Ufone has achieved growth in the 4G subscriber base and data services leading to a 3.5 per cent YoY growth in topline despite the challenges of the increase in Advance Income Tax (AIT) and reduction in Mobile Termination Rates (MTR).
He said, Ufone continued to expand its network footprint across the country and has significantly modernized its network to 4G since spectrum acquisition. “The company has one of the fastest growing 4G subscriber bases in the country” he added.
Khan said that VIS Credit Rating Company has assigned initial entity ratings of ‘AA-/A-1’ (Double A Minus/A-One) to Ufone with the outlook on the assigned ratings as ‘Stable’.
“This acknowledges the financial strength of Ufone through an independent rating exercise which also denotes high credit quality and good fundamental protection factors and is a testimony of stakeholders’ confidence in Ufone,” he said.
About U Bank, he said, the microfinance and branchless banking subsidiary of PTCL Group, continued its growth trajectory and has achieved 25.0 per cent YoY growth in its revenue by expanding its advances portfolio.
“The balance sheet footing of the bank reached Rs 114 billion as the bank continued to diversify its asset classes and funding streams while ensuring positive bottom-line impact. With the core mission of microfinance at its heart, the business model of the bank is evolving to capture new segments and customer classes to include more of Pakistan into the banking network and further its ambition of financial and social inclusion,” he added.
Growth in revenue is mainly driven by strong performance in the consumer segment led by fixed broadband, mobile data, and business solutions, along with microfinance services that supported the Group in achieving 5.7 per cent growth over the comparative period, despite the challenges of the increase in Advance Income Tax (AIT) and reduction in Mobile Termination Rates (MTR)” said President and Group CEO Hatem Bamatraf while addressing a press conference after attending the Board of Directors’ meeting.
