PTCL posts Rs. 2.7 billion profit in half-year 2020

KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the country’s leading telecom and ICT services provider, has announced its financial results for the six months ended June 30, 2020 at its Board of Directors’ meeting held in Islamabad on July 15.

After the onset of COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, the country was witnessing a gradual come back to a new ‘normal’ in which the economic activities were carefully being resumed while adhering to due counter measures for containing the effects of the pandemic, said a news release issued here on Wednesday.

With its extensive network footprint, PTCL had successfully played its role as the communication backbone of the country in these testing times.

The dedicated frontline workers, who have been continuously on the ground despite the pandemic and the diligent customer care teams have ensured uninterrupted service delivery for PTCL's valued customers.

PTCL Group’s revenue of Rs. 62.9 Billion for the half-year was lower by 5pc as compared to the same period of last year.

If normalized for the impact of COVID-19 and certain regulatory changes affecting Ufone, PTCL Group’s revenue was 2.5pc higher than 2019 on a like-for-like basis.

U Bank, a microfinance banking subsidiary of PTCL, continued its growth momentum and achieved a 45pc growth in its revenue over last year.

The Group’s operating profit and bottom line have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and rupee devaluation. PTCL’s revenue of Rs. 35.3 Billion for the half-year was 1pc lower than last year.

If normalized for the impact of coronavirus, the like-for-like revenue was stable and slightly higher than the same period of last year.

PTCL witnessed an exponential growth in the internet traffic during the pandemic which was facilitated through timely expansion at Content Delivery Network (CDN) domain to improve customer experience and optimize international bandwidth.

As the pandemic still continues to be a challenge for the country, PTCL ensured connectivity for more people with its wireline and wireless products during this quarter which has resulted in improved Charji revenues, along with 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 50pc complaints on 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 this year.

These include the adoption of 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 90pc of the service level i.e. to resolve the complaints within 24 hrs.

Corporate and Wholesale businesses continued their growth momentum and have achieved an 8pc 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 6pc growth as compared to the same period 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 as compared to last year due to effects of Covid-19 pandemic, increase in operating costs and higher depreciation on fixed assets as a result of significant capital expenditure on network upgrade in the last year.

However, increase in non-operating income on account of disposal0 of obsolete assets that had become redundant due to upgrade of legacy exchanges and fiberization of access network, has helped lessen the gap at the bottom-line level with comparative period.

PTCL has undertaken a comprehensive Covid-19 relief and support effort to help people in these difficult times.

In addition to assisting customers with reduced tariffs, free access to government helplines 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.

PTCL 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, all across Pakistan, were facilitated with monthly ration in Ramzan.

PTCL has taken all necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of its employees through provision of protective gears, etc.

PTCL Razaakar Trust continues to assist its non-management staff, infected with the Coronavirus, with a month’s worth of ration items.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is the largest integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) Company of Pakistan.

With a humble start from a telephone and telegraph department in 1947, it has evolved to offer latest digital and telecommunication technologies today.

It acts as the communication backbone for the country with the largest fiber cable network that spans from Khyber to Karachi and submarine cables connecting Pakistan to the world.

PTCL has been assigned initial long-term entity rating of ‘AAA’ (Triple A) and short-term rating of ‘A-1+’ (A-One Plus).