Compared to Q1, the Q2’20 revenue of Robi declined by 9.5% to reach 1,763 crore taka at the end of the second quarter. Cost optimization drive coupled with pandemic time less customer acquisition and revenue driven cost helped Robi register a profit after tax (PAT) of 58.4 crore in Q2’20.
While reading the PAT figure, it must be noted that it is heavily impacted by the discriminatory 2% minimum turnover tax. The smaller players in the telecom industry is effectively made to pay minimum turnover tax at double the rate compared to any other industry.
In addition to the revenue dent, the active subscriber base took a heavy beating throughout the second quarter due to the pandemic. Active subscriber base declined by 3.5% compared to Q1’20 to reach 4 crore 80 lakhs in Q2’20. Compared to the same quarter last year, the active subscriber base increased by 0.1%. Robi’s revenue on the other hand declined by 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year.
Robi’s voice revenue declined by 14.2% compared to the previous quarter and by 18.6% compared to the same quarter previous year- indicating the economic hardship endured especially by the lower income customers who tend to use 2G based voice call service.
Despite data consumption growth of 18.9% compared to last quarter, the pandemic induced drastic data price reduction resulted in data revenue de-growth of 1.5% in Q2’20 compared to the previous quarter; however, compared to same quarter last year, data revenue grew by 23.7% in Q2’20.
Commenting on the financial performance of the company, Robi’s Managing Director and CEO, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed said: “Q2’20 was unlike any other quarter we have lived through.
As anticipated, the impact of pandemic was quite telling on our business. But our razor-sharp focus on cost optimization and less direct cost due to pandemic helped us to end the quarter with a decent profit.”
