Robi sees highest ever revenues of Tk9,942cr in 2023
Telecom operator Robi Axiata's revenues jumped 16% year-on-year to Tk9,942 crore in 2023, marking the highest ever yearly turnover in its history.
The country's second largest operator saw a 9% rise in voice revenues and a substantial surge of 28.2% in data revenues compared to those of the previous year, it said in a statement on Thursday.
Besides, its net profit stood at Tk321 crore last year, marking a 76% annual growth in net profit.
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"Robi's record setting revenue for 2023 was driven by the supreme confidence our subscribers had on our network," Rajeev Sethi, managing director and CEO, said in the statement.
The growing confidence led Robi to post the highest number of subscriptions among all operators in 2023, he added.
In 2023, Robi Axiata expanded its subscriber base by adding 43 lakhs new users, bringing the total number to 5.87 crores. This constitutes 31% of the country's overall mobile phone subscriber base.
In the year, it witnessed an 8.9% growth in its data subscriber base, reaching 4.47 crores compared to that in 2022.
Additionally, the 4G subscriber base surged 23.7% year-on-year to 3.57 crores last year.
Robi's significant investment in network expansion over the last year helped the operator reduce the call drop rate to only 0.2%, which is way lower than the parameters set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), read its press release.
Last year, its capital expenditure (capex) was Tk1,903 crore.
Meanwhile, Robi has declared a 10% cash dividend to its shareholders for the calendar year 2023.
To approve the dividend and the audited financial statement, the multinational company will conduct the annual general meeting on 24 April, and the record date is 18 March.
Earlier, it had paid a 7% cash dividend for the year 2022.
Robi said its earnings per share was Tk0.61 in 2023, which was 74% higher than that of 2022.
Its shares have still stuck on the floor price at Tk30 each at the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The floor price will be removed in line with an order of the regulator after the AGM record date.
Robi CEO Rajeev urged the BTRC to reform the regulatory framework as well as the applicable processes to ensure mobile operators' substantial and speedy contribution towards building a "Smart Bangladesh."
He said the regulator should not take any decision that gives undue advantage to any single operator, which he said will lower competition in the market.
