KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the leading telecom and ICT services provider in the country, has announced its financial results for the six months ended June 30, 2023.
The announcement was made during the Board of Directors’ meeting held in Islamabad on July 19, 2023.
Throughout the first half of 2023, PTCL Group has sustained its momentum, further solidifying its position as the leading integrated telecom service provider in Pakistan. Despite the prevailing challenging macroeconomic conditions, the Group has achieved a remarkable 26.8 percent revenue growth compared to the same period of last year. This substantial increase in revenue is primarily attributed to the exceptional performance across multiple segments, including fixed broadband, mobile data, business solutions and banking services.
The business landscape in 2023 continues to be influenced by the adverse impact of macroeconomic challenges that arose in 2022. The escalating energy and fuel tariffs present ongoing obstacles for telecom operators, making it difficult to deliver high-quality services to consumers at affordable prices. Delays in LC opening have affected the operators’ network expansion plans. Significant devaluation of the Pakistani Rupee in the first quarter, coupled with rising interest rates and additional super tax over and above regular corporate tax, has greatly impacted the profitability. To mitigate the effects of these challenging issues, policy intervention by the government is required to provide much needed relief to the sector.
As per the PTCL Group highlights, PTCL Group’s revenue of Rs 90.9 billion in 2023 is 26.8 percent higher as compared to the same period of last year. The Group’s profitability was, among other factors, particularly affected by significant Rupee devaluation in the first quarter as the Group has un-hedged forex liabilities. The Group has posted a net loss of Rs 8.5 billion. PTCL continued its growth by posting 17.3% YoY revenue growth. PTML’s (Ufone) revenue grew by 22.4 percent YoY as compared to the same period of last year. U Bank has achieved a 96.5 percent growth in its revenue over the same period of last year.
PTCL’s revenue of Rs 46.9 billion for the period is 17.3 percent higher than 2022, mainly driven by growth in Carrier and Wholesale and Broadband segments. The company has posted an operating profit of Rs 2.9 billion with an impressive 57 percent growth over last year and a net profit of Rs 6.9 billion. Increase in non-operating income due to translation gain on the Company’s forex denominated receivables and gain on disposal of obsolete assets due to upgrade and fiberization of the network, played a significant role in achieving 34.5% increase in the net profit as compared to same period of last year.
PTCL Consumer Business: PTCL achieved 17.2 percent revenue growth over the same period last year in the fixed broadband business. The Company further strengthened its flag ship FTTH brand, ‘Flash Fiber’ by achieving significant net subscriber additions through exceptional customer experiences and aggressive expansion of fiber network across the country which played a vital role in achieving significant increase in FTTH revenue by 106.5 percent. IPTV segment also showed a 5.8 percent revenue growth YoY. Voice and wireless revenue streams continue the declining trajectory as they are impacted by OTT services and tough competition from cellular operators.
PTCL Business Services: Business services segment continued its momentum sustaining market leadership in IP bandwidth, cloud, data centre, and other ICT services segments. PTCL’s enterprise business grew by 21.1 percent as compared to last year, while carrier and wholesale business continued its growth momentum and achieved 34.9 percent overall revenue growth. International voice revenue has increased by 18.6 percent as compared to last year. Despite the current challenging economic environment, overall Business Solutions revenue has shown a remarkable 27.4 percent year-on-year growth.
As the national telecom carrier and connectivity backbone in Pakistan, PTCL Group is committed to deliver innovative solutions that drive the growth of a ‘Digital Pakistan’. This is achieved through the establishment of robust telecommunication infrastructure and a wide range of services, all aimed at enhancing the customer experience and accelerating progress in the country. PTCL collaborated with Vodafone to bring industry leading IoT products, services and solutions to the Pakistani market. The partnership will allow to develop and deliver a full suite of end-to-end IoT services aimed at accelerating enterprise digital enablement and improving adoption of connected services in the Pakistani society.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023