Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Group's revenue for the first nine months (January-September) 2019 has grown year-on-year (YoY) by 4.5 percent to Rs 98 billion compared to Rs 93.208 billion during the same period of 2018.

However, PTCL Group's operating profit and net profit for the nine months have decreased by 15 percent and 32 percent, respectively as a result of high inflation, significant depreciation of PKR against USD and higher power tariffs. Ufone revenue decreased by 9 percent quarter on quarter (QoQ) and 13 percent YoY due to enforcement of suspended GST/FED by Supreme Court.

The financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2019 were announced at its Board of Directors meeting, which were later shared with media Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, Rashid Khan, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PTCL Group said that as a result of positive contribution by all group companies, growth in revenue was made possible.

CFO PTCL Nadeem Khan said that PTCL Group's revenue for the nine months has grown YoY by 4.5 percent to Rs 98 billion. Ufone revenue has increased 6 percent YoY, UBank, a microfinance banking subsidiary of PTCL, has shown significant growth of 50 percent in its revenue over last year.

He further said that PTCL revenue of Rs 53.8 billion for the nine months is slightly higher than last year of Rs 52.6 billion by 0.4 percent. PTCL's flagship Fixed Broadband services posted revenue growth of 5%.

PTCL continues its journey to upgrade its top revenue generating exchanges under Network Transformation Project (NTP) in different parts of Pakistan.

For the 95 exchanges fully transformed to date in 12 cities, YoY revenue growth is even higher at 12% and there is a 35% reduction in customer complaints. Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH), deployed in major cities with more than 100,000 lines, has received a positive response from the customers.

Corporate, Wholesale and International businesses continued their growth momentum from 2018 and has achieved 7% overall revenue growth. PTCL has entered into strategic partnership with a local telecom operator for its network expansion, with edotco to enhance Pakistan's connectivity capabilities and Irdeto for Wi-Fi management and parental control functionalities.

Wireless revenue for the period has declined on YoY basis due to strong competition by the cellular companies providing wireless data services. There is continued decline in voice revenues due to continued conversion of subscribers to OTT, cellular services and illegal/grey traffic termination resulting in declining voice traffic volumes.

PTCL has posted a Net Profit after Tax of Rs 5.5 billion for the nine months which is 14% higher than same period of last year. Operating profit for the period remained under pressure compared to last year mainly due to increase in operating cost on account of significant hike in power tariffs and currency devaluation. However, non-operating income has increased due to higher income on investments as a result of increase in interest rates and translation gain on forex based assets.

PTCL officials further said that VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS) has reaffirmed entity rating of PTCL of "AAA" (Triple A) and short term rating of "A-1+" (A-One Plus). The medium to long-term rating of 'AAA' denotes highest credit quality, with negligible risk factors, being only slightly more than for risk-free debt of Government of Pakistan.

The assigned ratings reflect PTCL's leading market position, extensive network infrastructure, strong financial risk profile and adequate business risk profile. Ratings also incorporate strong sponsor profile with majority shareholding of 62% vested with the Government of Pakistan and 26% stake along with management control being held by Etisalat International Pakistan, a 90% owned subsidiary of Etisalat Group.

This year, PTCL portrayed its connection with the people of Pakistan through our Independence Day campaign TVC that was viewed more than 7 million times on social media platforms. The main theme of the TVC was along the lines that PTCL is the backbone of connectivity in Pakistan and a company trusted by customers for their daily connectivity needs in turn trusts PTCL to enable provision of these services.

As part of 'Clean & Green Pakistan Movement', PTCL undertook beautification, renovation and re-landscaping of 3 main places in the capital city. The PTCL participated to support the startups incubated at National Incubation Center (NIC) Karachi at a special graduation ceremony, at NED University Karachi, for the first cohort of startups. The PTCL held a special ceremony to commemorate Defense Day, observe solidarity with the people of Kashmir and pay tribute to the families of martyrs who lost their lives protecting the motherland.