Robi-Axiata Ltd, the second-largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh, made a Tk 24.4 crore profit in the second quarter of 2023.

Earnings per share were Tk 0.05 in April-June of the year.

The revenue stood at Tk 2,539.9 crore in the quarter, Robi said in a press release today.

The company made a capex investment of Tk 762.2 crore from April to June to further bolster its 4G network.

The telecom operator said earnings before income tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at Tk 1,065.5 crore with a 42 per cent margin.

Addressing a press conference at Robi Corporate Office in Gulshan today, Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Sethi said: "Given the macro-economic challenges, we are very happy with the overall performance of Robi."

"We are very proud to note that 39 per cent of our revenue in the second quarter came from the data business, clearly demonstrating that our digital vision is producing concrete results. In fact, the data revenue was one of the key drivers in pushing up profitability for the quarter."

"Unfortunately, the growth momentum, to a large extent, was undone by the hefty payment we had to make to the government exchequer."

Robi contributed Tk 1,684 crore to the government exchequer in the three-month period, which accounted for 66.3 per cent of the total revenue.

"Unless we address this bottleneck, we are always going to struggle to match up to our full potential as a leading digital service provider of the country," he said.

Robi added eight lakh subscribers in the second quarter, raising its subscriber base to 5.64 crore, representing 30 per cent of the market share.

A total of 10 lakhs data users were added to the Robi network between April and June, which raised its data user base to 4.31 crore. Some 76.5 per cent of subscribers were data users at the end of the April-June period.

Having added 16 lakh 4G users, Robi's 4G user base expanded to 3.24 crore. Its 57 per cent of subscribers are 4G users.

The company said it ensured 98.5 per cent 4G population coverage with more than 16,000 sites across the country.