Robi makes Tk 155cr profit in 2020

Despite Covid-19 pandemic, mobile phone operator Robi ended 2020 with an upturn revenue growth of 1.1 percent margin compared to 2019.

The operator’s total revenue in 2020 stood at Taka 7,564 crore after adding Taka 1,920 crore in quarter-4(Q4).

With Taka 39 crore to the profit tally, Robi’s total profit after tax reached Taka 155 crore, indicating a strong growth momentum following the measly profit in 2019, said the operator while releasing business update.

“When our competitors saw revenue decline, Robi experienced positive revenue growth, despite the tremendous upheavals we had to negotiate with due to the Corona pandemic,” said Robi’s Managing Director and CEO, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed.

With 19 lakh subscribers to its network in 2020, Robi’s subscriber base reached 5.9 crore, of which 69.2 percent were data subscribers.

4G subscribers, in particular, had grown by more than 72.8 percent compared to the last year.

Due to the seasonal impact, Robi’s voice revenue declined by 1 percent in Q4 of 2020, compared to last quarter (Q3’20). This translated into 0.7 percent de-growth in total revenue for Q4’20, compared to Q3’20.

Compared to 2019, Robi’s voice revenue declined by 9.9 percent in 2020 indicating customers’ growing reliance on OTT platforms for making voice calls. Data revenue, on the other hand, grew by 1 percent compared to last quarter (Q3’20), and by 26 percent compared to 2019.

EBITDA declined by 3.2 percent compared to Q3’20. However, considering the whole year, EBITDA grew by 11.8 percent. EBITDA margin for Q4’20 stood at 39.7 percent, which is 1 percentage point (pp) lower than Q3’20. EBITDA margin for 2020 stood at 42.6 percent, which is 4.1 pp higher than 2019.

“It was a year of tremendous learning for us and in hindsight I can proudly say that we pulled the right levers of innovation to write this amazing growth journey together,” said Robi CEO, adding, “With Taka 155 crore profit after tax we certainly had a strong showing in the market.”

However, being subjected to the 2 percent minimum tax on gross revenue, Robi’s performance continues to deny its full growth potential, he added.