Profit of Nepal Telecom declines

By A Staff Reporter Kathmandu, May 12: Net profit of state-owned telecom company - Nepal Telecom (NT) - has decreased, during the third quarter of the current fiscal year 2021/22, by 7.63 per cent during the third quarter of the current fiscal year compared to the same period last fiscal year.

The company has earned a net profit of Rs. 5.43 billion in the review period of the current fiscal year 2021/22 while it had earned a net profit of Rs. 5.88 billion in the third quarter of the last fiscal year 2020/21. However, operating income of the company has increased by 2.8 per cent during the review period. The operation income of the NT stood at Rs. 28.21 billion during the third quarter of the current fiscal year while it was Rs. 27.45 billion during the same period a year ago.

The NT was able to collect revenue of Rs. 32.53 billion during the review period which is 2.72 per cent higher than the corresponding period last year.

The decline in revenue and profit was due to the decline in the use of intercommunication services, including international roaming, caused by COVID-19 pandemic, said NT.

Due to the lack of chipsets and difficulties in international transportation and rising transportation cost in the aftermath of the COVID-19, imports of equipment and supplies have been delayed and services have not been extended in time. The Company has said that the increase in maintenance cost due to the extensive expansion of the service and increase in the depreciation of fixed assets has increased the expenses and affected the profit.

Although the company has introduced very low rate data packages targeting the pandemic of COVID-19, the increase in data absorption towards GSM services has not increased the revenue in the same proportion, it said.