Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the country’s leading telecom and ICT services provider, has announced its financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, at its Board of Directors’ meeting.
PTCL has reported an increase of 45.20 percent in its profits during the period. According to a notification to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the company reported a profit of Rs. 8.22 billion in the first nine months as compared to a profit of Rs. 5.66 billion in the same period last year.
An increase in non-operating income, due to translation gain on the company’s forex-denominated assets, dividend income from a subsidiary and gain on disposal of obsolete assets due to upgrade and fiberization of network, has helped turn the 12.4 percent decrease at the operating profit level to a 45.2 percent increase at the net profit level.
PTCL’s revenue of Rs. 61.1 billion for the period is 6.7% higher than Rs. 57.28 billion in 2021, mainly driven by growth in broadband and wholesale & business solutions segments.
The company posted an operating profit of Rs. 3.2 billion, which remained under pressure compared to last year mainly due to an increase in operating costs on account of a significant hike in power and fuel tariffs.
PTCL Group remained on the growth trajectory during the third quarter as its fixed and wireless streams continued to perform positively.
The group’s revenue has increased by 8% to Rs. 110.5 billion YoY, mainly driven by strong performance in the consumer segment led by fixed broadband, mobile data, and wholesale & business solutions, along with microfinance services.
The Group has posted a net loss of Rs, 5.6 billion as compared to a profit of Rs. 3.68 billion in the same period last year. PTCL Group’s profitability remained under pressure due to significant hikes in power and fuel tariffs, devaluation of the Pak Rupee against USD, higher interest rates, and other costs associated with the acquisition of 4G spectrum and related network rollout.
PTCL continued its growth momentum by posting 6.7% YoY revenue growth. PTML’s (Ufone) revenue grew by 5.4% as compared to the same period last year. U Bank has achieved a 29.8% growth in its revenue over the same period of last year.
Ufone’s revenue grew by 5.4 percent as compared to the same period of last year.
Data remains the main driver of growth for Ufone through continued investment to expand 4G coverage and conversion of customer base to 4G. As a result, Ufone achieved 3.5 million 4G net adds this year.
Ufone has posted topline growth despite the challenges of an increase in Advance Income Tax (AIT) and reduction in Mobile Termination Rates (MTR) and recent floods in the country.
External factors like the devaluation of PKR, rising interest rates and hikes in power and fuel tariffs have adversely impacted Ufone’s bottom line.
During the second quarter, VIS Credit Rating Company has assigned initial entity ratings of ‘AA-/A-1’ (Double A Minus/A-One) to Ufone with an outlook on the assigned ratings as ‘Stable’.
UBank continued its growth trajectory and achieved 29.8 percent growth in its revenue over the last year by deepening its advances and investment portfolio, despite the challenging macroeconomic situation, further exacerbated by the recent flood.
The balance sheet footing of the bank reached Rs. 122 billion as the bank continued to diversify its asset classes and funding streams while ensuring a positive bottom-line impact.
As the six business canvases of the bank, namely: Rural Retail Banking, Corporate Finance & Investment Banking, Islamic Banking, Urban Retail Banking, Corporate Banking and Digital Banking take their distinct forms and structures, this year will witness Ubank emerging as a Retail Challenger Bank aiming to extend banking services in accordance with the unique needs of its diverse and heterogenous clientele.
During the first 3 quarters, the company’s fixed broadband business grew by 11.7% YoY. Within the broadband business, revenues from Flash Fiber, the company’s premium FTTH service, showed significant growth of 98.7%. IPTV also showed 8.6% growth YoY. The Voice revenue stream has seen a decline due to lower voice traffic and continued conversion of customers to OTT services.
PTCL continues to perform consistently with enhanced customer experience through the company’s seamless fixed broadband, including the fastest internet service in Pakistan through the Flash Fiber brand. PTCL has expanded its FTTH services in 35 cities, and the subscriber base has doubled on a YoY basis as the company continues to tap into the demand for growing internet and data services.
While continuing momentum with overall YoY revenue growth of 8.8%, the business solutions segment sustained its market leadership in IP bandwidth, Cloud, Data Center, and other ICT services. PTCL’s corporate business grew by 13.0% as compared to last year.
Within the wholesale business segment, carrier revenue grew by 16.2% but the overall wholesale segment revenue has declined as a result of the closure of certain international IP leased circuits. International revenue, helped by the favorable impact of currency devaluation, has increased by 13.9% over the last year.
