Dhaka,
5th Dec. 2007
(www.bhuiyan.com)
--
Banglalink, the mobile telephone operator, will have 10 million subscribers and start making profits by the end of next year, according to the Egyptian owned company's chief executive officer, Rashid Khan.
However, Khan said Banglalink has no plans at present to follow the move of its main rivals GrameenPhone and AKTEL, who are expected to list their shares on the Dhaka Stock Exchange next year.
Khan made his comments at a presentation of the company's third quarter results.
In the three months to September 31, Banglalink's revenues rose by 18 percent on the previous three months to BDT 3.27 billion. Year-to-date revenue for 2007 was BDT 9.26 billion, an increase of 113 percent, the CEO said.
Measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, Banglalink made a loss of BDT 1.47 billion in the three months to September 31, compared to a loss of BDT 970 million in the previous quarter.
Yesterday Khan said that the company is planning to have positive results by next year.
"Telecom is a most investment-oriented industry. It is not that your investment immediately starts giving return," he said, adding that the company will invest BDT 20 trillion by 2008 to expand its network as well as provide better services to its customers.
Banglalink CEO explained that the company has to spend BDT 1,100 in selling its SIM (subscribers identification module) cards but it takes on average only DBT 75 a month from customers.
"Therefore, it needs many months to recover the initial sum," Khan said.
The Banglalink CEO also claimed that company's financial status is better than their planned results.
Asked if the Banglalink had any plans to list its shares on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the CEO said the matter was being explored and that discussions on the matter had been held with the government.
However, such a move was not being planned at the moment as the company, which only started operations in Bangladesh three years ago, was still recording losses.
By the end of September 2007, Banglalink had 6.02 million subscribers, up 123 percent on the same date a year earlier. This gave it a market share of 18.9 percent, according to the CEO. During the time around 10.09 million people newly subscribed with different market operators. Of that Banglalink added 2.7 million, according to the CEO.
To provide more services for the grassroots customers, banglalink is planning to set up 150 more service points in the Thana level, thereby the number of service point will reach 500 by end of 2008.
