Bangladesh-based Grameenphone’s top-line and profitability grew for the eleventh straight quarter during Q4 2023 despite rising inflation and macroeconomic challenges, fuelled by gains in data revenue and ARPU.

In an earnings release, CFO Otto Risbakk noted the operator had recorded double-digit gains in data revenue for five consecutive quarters.  

Net profit rose 58.2 per cent year-on-year to BDT5.9 billion ($53.7 million) aided by lower forex losses and a litigation penalty in Q4 2022.

Strong demand for data fuelled a 7.3 per cent increase in total revenue to BDT40.3 billion. 

Data revenue accounted for 31.2 per cent of the total, up from 27.8 per cent.

ARPU rose 5.5 per cent to BDT161 and average monthly data usage 12.5 per cent to 6.7GB.

Its subscriber base increased 3.6 per cent to 82 million, with LTE up 7 per cent to 37.6 million and accounting for nearly 46 per cent of its total.

Full-year capex fell 16 per cent to BDT20 billion.

It added 1,400 LTE base stations, taking the total to 21,200 at end-2023.