Broadband and Cellular Sectors Support PTCL to Book Rs1.4 billion Profit

by Ahmed Ali

Broadband and cellular sectors have become strong pillars of the company that persistently supported Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) to generate revenues as it was seen again in the third quarter of financial year 2011-12 which saw profit Rs1.4 billion.

The telecom company also witnessed growth of 11.3% in revenues. The operating costs on the other hand rose by 7%YoY – pressured by rising salary costs, however operating margins have marginally improved to 9.3% from 8.8% last year. Other operating income declined by 38%YoY due to lower investment balance and likely absence of dividend from Ufone.

“PTCL’s profits and revenue growth during third quarter of FY12 is a strong indicator of our dynamic corporate direction as well as our customers’ continued satisfaction and trust,” said PTCL CEO & President, Walid Irshaid, following a meeting of the company’s Board of Directors held on Wednesday, which announced the company’s nine-months  financial results for the period ending March 31, 2012.

“Through optimal use of resource, we want to achieve enhanced revenue, greater levels of customer satisfaction, as well as improve our shareholders’ value,” said Irshaid.

According to the PTCL board of director announcement, PTCL’s group revenue stood at Rs.28.3 billion during the period under review, showing a growth of 9.7% over FY12. Of this, PTCL’s revenue was Rs.14.8 billion.

Despite the economic challenges faced by Pakistan, PTCL has remained strong throughout 2011-2012 in emerging segments of Broadband in Wire-line as well as Wireless, and other corporate services.

PTCL was declared the leading operator in Pakistan by PTA’s 2011 Quality of Service survey for providing the highest quality Broadband Internet service to consumers. PTCL was declared the ‘Best South Asian Telecom Operator 2011’ by the global telecommunications forum, SAMENA.

“We are constantly innovating and improving our customer experience,” said Mr. Irshaid, while recounting the successes of PTCL’s most recent business offerings. “We strongly believe that PTCL will remain the market leader and a service provider of choice throughout Pakistan for providing cutting-edge integrated telecom solutions to our customers.”