Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The country‘s leading telecom and ICT services provider, the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) posted 7 percent growth in its revenues, owing to a robust commercial strategy.

Briefing media persons here, President and Group Hatem Bamatraf said “PTCL continued its strong performance throughout 2021. PTCL’s revenue of Rs 77 billion for the year 2021 is 7 percent higher than 2020, mainly driven by broadband, corporate and wholesale business segments.”

He said the PTCL group had posted revenue of Rs 138 billion in the year 2021 which was 6.3 percent higher as compared to 2020. He said that PTML (Ufone) also posted revenue growth of 4.3 percent despite stiff competition in the market. He said the U Bank continued its growth momentum and had achieved 8.4 percent growth in revenue. The President also disclosed that PTCL group posted a net profit of Rs 2.6 billion during the same period.

He said the PTCL registered highest fixed broadband sales and Net Adds in 2021 since 2015, which allowed PTCL to grow in the broadband business segment. He said the PTCL was the fastest-growing Fiber To-The-Home (FTTH) operator with highest net adds within FTTH market in 2021.

He said the company had posted operating profit of Rs 4.2 billion that stood higher by 21 percent compared to 2020 The President said the company was continuously upgrading its existing infrastructure and network, besides expanding FTTH across the country to offer seamless connectivity for greater customer experience.

He said, that prompt deployment of FTTH and strong performance in corporate and wholesale segments were the cornerstone in PTCL’s top-line growth, which along with focus on cost optimization program has significantly increased the company’s profitability. About the PTCL consumer business, he said that during 2021 the company’s fixed broadband business grew by 11.7 percent, whereas PTCL IPTV segment also grew by 13 percent.

Within 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.

He said 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, he added.

Similarly, he said, international business growth was recorded at 4%. He said that Ufone’s financial year 2021 ended on a high note despite challenging operating environment, the revenues of it grew by 4.3% as compared to 2020 mainly driven by growth in the data services.

He said that Ufone acquired 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.

The president said post spectrum auction, significant network modernization activity was carried out in Q4 2021 that had allowed Ufone to significantly improve its share of the 4G net adds within the industry. This year, he said, 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 un-served and under-served areas of Baluchistan which involve deployment and network upgrade of 205 BTS sites, he added.