The country’s leading telecom and ICT services provider, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), posted a significant 7.3% growth in its revenues.
The company has announced its financial results for the nine months period ended on September 30, 2021, on October 18, 2021.
Key stats
- PTCL Group posted a revenue of Rs 102.4 billion in first nine months of 2021 that is 7% higher as compared to the same period of last year. It was mainly driven by Broadband and Corporate & Wholesale business segments.
- U Bank continued its growth momentum and has achieved 23% growth in revenue.
- PTML (Ufone) also posted revenue growth of 4.6% despite stiff competition in the market.
- PTCL Group delivered robust financial and operational performance and posted a net profit of Rs 3.7Billion as compared to Rs 1.6 billion (44.3% higher) for the same period of last year.
- Net profit of Rs 5.7 Billion has significantly increased by 39.2% from last year.
The company is upgrading its existing infrastructure and network, besides expanding FTTH across the country to offer seamless connectivity for greater customer experience. Prompt deployment of FTTHand strong performance in Corporate and Wholesale segments are the cornerstone in PTCL’s topline growth, which along with a focus on cost optimization program, has significantly increased the company’s profitability.
PTCL Consumer Business
PTCL Consumer Business showed consistent performance as it reports the 5th straight quarter of growth. During the 9 months of 2021, the company’s Fixed Broadband business grew by 12.7% YoY, whereas the PTCL IPTV segment also grew by 13.5%. Within the broadband business, the groundbreaking PTCL Flash Fiber, Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) service showed a tremendous growth of57.5%, whereas PTCL Charji /Wireless Broadband Segment grew by 17.8%.Voice revenue stream has declined on account of lower voice traffic and continued conversion of customers to OTT services.
Business Services
The business services segment continued its momentum sustaining market leadership in IP Bandwidth, Cloud, Data Center and other ICT services segments. PTCL’s Corporate business grew by 12.9% as compared to the same period last year, while Carrier and Wholesale business continued its growth momentum and achieved 10.3% overall revenue growth. International voice revenue has shown a declining trend like domestic voice revenue.
Being the national telecom carrier and connectivity backbone in Pakistan, PTCL Group strives to provide innovative solutions to accelerate growth for a ‘Digital Pakistan’ through robust telecommunication infrastructure and enhanced customer experience.
PTML – Ufone: Beginning of a New Era
On the wireless portfolio, PTML (Ufone) acquired an additional 9 MHz 4G spectrum in the 1800 MHz Band in NGMS spectrum auction in September 2021, fulfilling its commitment to provide enhanced customer experience through quality services across Pakistan. The additional spectrum will meet the increasing demand for wireless data products amongst the consumers in Pakistan in addition to providing innovative products and services.
After the acquisition of 4G spectrum, Ufone intends to fully modernize its network and further enhance its coverage across Pakistan. The network upgradation and modernization has already started paying dividends with significant improvement in data user experience for customers.
In addition to the acquisition of 4G spectrum in Pakistan, Ufone has also renewed and acquired more spectrum in Azad Jammu & Kashmir/Gilgit Baltistan to bolster its existing service. Through this, it has reaffirmed its commitment to provide quality data services to the people of Pakistan and AJK/GB.
UBank
UBank, the microfinance and branchless banking subsidiary of PTCL, continued its growth trajectory and has achieved 23% growth in its revenue over the corresponding period last year, by increasing its advances portfolio and treasury investments. The bank grew its funding book to a PKR 70 Billion by leveraging on its deposit and corporate finance arms, which is in line with the bank’s ambition to maintain its superior liquidity position. Major strategic initiatives undertaken by the bank include venturing into the Low-Cost Housing, International Remittance, and Islamic Banking space. The bank plans to invest in technology to make the most of the opportunities available on the digital banking front.