Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the country’s leading telecom and ICT services provider, has announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2021.
PTCL Group continued its growth trajectory by posting 7 percent YoY revenue growth which is the highest since 2013.
PTCL Group
The company has reported a consolidated profit of Rs. 2.57 billion, down by 21.41 percent as compared to a profit of Rs. 3.27 billion in 2020. PTCL Group posted a revenue of Rs. 138 billion in the year 2021 which is 7 percent higher as compared to Rs. 129.2 billion 2020.
According to the statement issued by the company, PTML (Ufone) also posted revenue growth of 4.3 percent despite stiff competition in the market. U Bank continued its growth momentum and has achieved an 8.4 percent growth in revenue.
PTCL
On an unconsolidated basis, PTCL alone posted a profit of Rs. 6.87 billion in 2021, up by almost 14 percent as compared to Rs. 6.03 billion in 2020.
PTCL continued its strong performance throughout 2021. Its revenue of Rs. 76.85 billion for the year 2021 is 7 percent higher than Rs. 71.80 2020, mainly driven by Broadband and Corporate & Wholesale business segments. It registered its highest Fixed broadband Sales and Net Adds in 2021 since 2015, which allowed PTCL to grow in the broadband business segment.
PTCL is the fastest-growing FTTH operator with the highest Net adds within the FTTH market in 2021. The company has posted an operating profit of Rs. 4.2 billion, which is higher by 21 percent compared to 2020. Moreover, it posted anNet profit of Rs. 6.9 billion, which is higher by 14 percent as compared to last year.
The company is continuously upgrading its existing infrastructure and network, besides expanding Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) across the country to offer seamless connectivity for greater customer experience. Prompt deployment of FTTH and strong performance in Corporate and Wholesale segments are the cornerstone in PTCL’s topline growth, which along with a focus on cost optimization program, has significantly increased the company’s profitability.
PTCL Consumer Business
In 2021, the company’s Fixed Broadband business grew by 11.7 percent YoY, whereas the PTCL IPTV segment also grew by 13 percent YoY. Within the broadband business, PTCL Flash Fiber, the company’s groundbreaking FTTH service, showed a tremendous growth of 61.5 percent, whereas PTCL CharJi/Wireless Broadband Segment grew by 16.5 percent.
Voice revenue stream has declined on account of lower voice traffic and continued conversion of customers to OTT services.
Business Services
The business services segment continued its momentum sustaining market leadership in IP Bandwidth, Cloud, Data Center, and other ICT services segments. PTCL’s Enterprise business grew by 10 percent as compared to last year, while Carrier and Wholesale business continued its growth momentum and achieved 9 percent overall revenue growth. Similarly, international business growth was recorded at 4 percent.
PTML – Ufone
Ufone’s financial year 2021 ended on a high note despite a challenging operating environment. Its revenues grew by 4.3 percent as compared to 2020 mainly driven by growth in data services.
The company acquired an additional 9 MHz 4G spectrum in the 1800 MHz Band in NGMS spectrum auction in September 2021, fulfilling its commitment to provide enhanced customer experience through quality services across Pakistan.
Post spectrum auction, significant network modernization activity was carried out in Q4 2021 which allowed Ufone to significantly improve its share of the 4G net adds within the industry.
PTCL Group is playing a key role in supporting Universal Service Fund’s (USF) efforts for the development of telecommunication services in un-served and under-served areas of the country. This year, PTCL was awarded seven USF optical fiber projects for far-flung areas of Punjab, KPK, and Sindh provinces. Under these projects, PTCL will deploy a total of 4,690 KM optical fiber. Ufone was awarded five USF projects under the Broadband for Sustainable Development (BSD) umbrella during 2021 for the unserved and under-served areas of Baluchistan which involve deployment and network upgrade of 205 BTS sites.
UBank
UBank, the microfinance and branchless banking subsidiary of PTCL, continued its growth trajectory and has achieved 8.4 percent growth in its revenue over last year by increasing its advanced portfolio. The balance sheet footing of the bank crossed the Rs 100 billion mark as the bank diversified its funding streams and asset classes while ensuring a positive bottom-line impact.
Major strategic initiatives undertaken by the bank include venturing into low-cost housing loans, international remittance, and the launch of Islamic Banking. The bank intends to invest in state-of-the-art technology to become a leading digital banking player. With the core mission of microfinance at its heart, the business model of the bank is evolving to capture new segments and customer classes to include more of Pakistan into the banking network and further its ambition of financial and social inclusion.
Source: Pro Pakistani