- PTCL registers yearly growth for the first time since 2014
ISLAMABAD: The Board of Directors of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the country’s leading telecom and ICT services provider, on Tuesday announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018.
PTCL Group’s revenue for the year 2018 grew by 8pc to Rs126.2 billion as a result of positive contribution by all group companies. The group’s revenue growth in the fourth quarter accelerated to 13pc YoY.
Ufone revenue increased by 13pc YoY. UBank, a microfinance banking subsidiary of PTCL, showed significant growth of 64pc in its revenue over the last year. PTCL Group’s operating profit and net profit for the year improved by 198pc and 32pc respectively. Likewise, net profit of PTCL Group went higher by 22pc compared to last year.
PTCL revenue of Rs70.1 billion for the year is 0.7pc higher than last year, with quarter 4 showing an accelerated growth of 3.4pc YoY. In 2018, PTCL’s revenue registered YoY growth for the first time since 2014.
In 2018, three-quarters of PTCL’s revenue base showed growth over the last year. PTCL’s flagship fixed broadband services posted revenue growth of 6.5pc over 2017. Investment in the transformation of network exchanges resulted in enhancing the customer experience by reducing network faults by 36pc and repeat faults by 50pc, along with providing higher bandwidths beyond 100Mbps, bundled with Triple Play services.
To further enrich the product and services portfolio, PTCL partnered with the global OTT players like Netflix, STARZ Play, icflix, etc. PTCL has also been recognized by Brand Finance as the ‘Fastest Growing Brand in Pakistan’.
Corporate business continued to perform strongly and showed significant growth of 13pc over last year by signing new customers in managed services and cloud infrastructure services resulting in 154pc and 188pc growth respectively in these two segments.
Conversion of EVO customers to Charji/LTE yielded positive results with YoY revenue growth in double digits, however, it also resulted in higher subscriber acquisition cost as compared to last year.
There is a continued decline in domestic and international voice revenues due to an increase in illegal/grey traffic termination, continued conversion of subscribers to OTT and cellular services, resulting in declining voice traffic volumes.
PTCL’s operating profit for the year is lower by 9pc, compared to 2017, mainly due to an increase in operating cost on account of currency devaluation and higher subscriber acquisition cost. Further, non-operating income also declined due to reduced funds as compared to last year. Net Profit for the year is Rs7.4 billion which is 11pc lower compared to last year, driven by lower operating profit and lower non-operating income.
In 2018, the financial strength of PTCL was acknowledged through an independent rating exercise as a result of which JCR-VIS has assigned PTCL a long-term rating of AAA which will enhance all stakeholders’ confidence in the long-term sustainability of the company.
