Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the country’s leading telecom and ICT service provider, has announced its financial results for the half-year, ending on June 30, 2020.
PTCL Group
The company has reported a massive drop of 86% in its profits during the period. According to a notification to the PSX, the company reported a profit of just Rs. 33.32 million as compared to a profit of Rs. 2.34 billion last year.
Overall, PTCL Group’s revenue of Rs 62.90 billion in the first half of the year was lower by 5.13% as compared to Rs. 66.30 billion recorded in the same period of last year. However, the cost of sales of the company went down by 1.65% to Rs. 47.29 billion as compared with Rs. 48.08 billion. This took the gross profits down by 14.33% to Rs. 15.60 billion as compared to Rs. 18.21 billion last year.
The group’s operating profit and bottom line have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and rupee devaluation.
If normalized for the impact of COVID-19 and certain regulatory changes affecting Ufone, PTCL Group’s revenue is 2.5% higher than 2019 on a like-for-like basis, said a statement issued by the company.
U Bank, a microfinance banking subsidiary of PTCL, continued its growth momentum and has achieved a 45% growth in its revenue over last year.
PTCL
PTCL posted a profit of Rs. 2.70 billion, down by 29% as compared with Rs. 3.79 billion recorded in the same period last year.
PTCL’s revenue of Rs 35.3 billion for the half-year is 1% lower than last year. If normalized for the impact of COVID-19, the like-for-like revenue is stable and slightly higher than last year.
PTCL’s Operating Profit of Rs. 1.4 billion and Net Profit After Tax of Rs 2.7 billion for the half-year have declined due to effects of the pandemic, increase in operating costs, and higher depreciation on fixed assets as a result of significant capital expenditure on network upgrade last year.
However, an increase in non-operating income on account of the disposal of obsolete assets that had become redundant due to the upgrade of legacy exchanges and fiberization of the access network has helped lessen the gap at the bottom-line level with the comparative period.
Corporate and Wholesale Businesses
Corporate and Wholesale businesses continued their growth momentum and have achieved an 8% overall revenue growth YoY.
This has been possible through PTCL’s leading market position in IP Bandwidth and its strong presence in Managed Services, Cloud, and other ICT services segments. Similarly, international revenue has also shown a 6% growth as compared to the same period last year.
Exponential growth in internet traffic
PTCL witnessed an exponential growth in internet traffic during the pandemic which was facilitated through a timely expansion of its Content Delivery Network (CDN) domain to improve customer experience and optimize international bandwidth.
As the pandemic still continues to be a challenge for Pakistan, PTCL ensures connectivity for more people with its wired and wireless products during this quarter which has resulted in improved Charji revenues, along with the addition of more than 15 thousand fixed broadband customers in Q2, 2020.
PTCL was able to curtail the churn rate, convert more customers to digital payments, and resolve more than 50% of complaints on the spot through its efficient customer services by focusing on customer experience and engagement. To enhance the overall customer experience, PTCL has taken various customer-centric initiatives during the year.
These include the adoption of the Nokia Service Management Platform for effective service delivery, improved line stability through dynamic line management, enhanced customer communications, and reduction in overall fault resolution time.
During the second quarter of 2020, the company’s mean time to resolve the customer complaints was well above 90% of the service level i.e. to resolve the complaints within 24 hrs.
PTCL has undertaken a comprehensive COVID-19 relief and support effort to help people in difficult times. In addition to assisting customers with reduced tariffs, free access to government helpline, and digital awareness campaigns, PTCL Group donated Rs. 100 million and PTCL employees have contributed their two days’ salary to the Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Relief Fund.
The company has provided support to Shaukat Khanum Research Center, collaborated with Pakistan Red Crescent Society, and provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
Seven thousand deserving families were facilitated with monthly rations in Ramzan. PTCL has taken all necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of its employees through the provision of protective gear, etc. PTCL Razaakar Trust continues to assist its non-management staff, infected with the Coronavirus, with a month’s worth of ration items.
After the onset of the pandemic earlier this year, the country is witnessing a gradual come back to a new ‘normal’ in which the economic activities are carefully being resumed while adhering to due countermeasures for containing the effects of the pandemic. With its extensive network footprint, PTCL has successfully played its role as the communication backbone of the country in these testing times
Source: ProPakistani