Last Updated on August 18, 2022
Nepal Telecom (NTC) is said to have provided a bonus of whooping Rs 670 million to their subscribers in Chaitra alone. As the nation faced a lockdown from Chaitra 11, 2076, Nepal Telecom announced an offer of a 100% bonus on recharge. Following the announcement, a free bonus of 534 million have been provided in the month of Chaitra.
Zero balance package
The company provided a zero balance package of Rs. 534 million to their customers with zero or low balance during the period. Similarly, a 27 to 30 percent discount was provided on the basic rate of mobile service, which amounts to Rs. 86 million. ‘The lockdown has negatively affected the company’s revenue to up to Rs. 669 million’, says Nepal Telecom, ‘Also, the company has contributed Rs 100 million to the corona relief fund.’
Reasons for loss
The telco has reported a decline in profits due to lockdown, which was implemented to reduce the spreading of coronavirus across the country. NTC has reported a loss of Rs. 669 million in revenue for the third quarter (Magh-Chaitra) of the 2076/077 fiscal year. The total revenue from services till the third quarter of last fiscal year was Rs. 27 billion while the total revenue from services till the same period of the current fiscal year is Rs. 26 billion. The discount is considered to be the reason for the loss.
The company says that since 1st Chaitra 2076, the company started calculating discounts instead of a commission on the sale of recharge cards and the commission is to be added after calculating the total sales but, since the discount is provided before the sale, the revenue decreased due to the discount. Read the top-up methods in Nepal Telecom without recharge card.
Until the third quarter of the current fiscal year, the discount amounted to around Rs 860 million. According to the telco, when comparing with last year’s income, this amount should also be calculated. Adding the above-mentioned discount to the total income until the third quarter of the current fiscal year, the total revenue will be about 180 million more than the same period last year.
During the additional review period, it is reported that the increase in the foreign exchange rate, the increase in the minimum wage for manpower from external sources, 4G expansion, the increase in the cost of house rent, cost of electricity, cost of operating the team during the network and service expansion has also affected the profits.
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From a few years, the revenues and profit of telecom operators in Nepal including Ntc have plunged. Now that the lockdown has economic growth upside down, the fall-off is quite obvious. From the data, we can assume that NTC is bearing a loss in the current fiscal year.
They came up with a generous scheme and provided seamless service even in this crisis. Contributing a service of such a huge amount without any profit, we are assured that NTC is dedicated to providing service to their customers.
Recommended read: How Nepali telcos (Ntc, Ncell, Smart) supported government and people in this COVID-19 pandemic >>
The effort of Nepal Telecom is much appreciable. We are thankful for their continuous quality service. We hope they are looking for several measures to recover the loss.
