Ncell’s Profit Declines, Revenue Drops By 1.5 Billion In Q1 2021 With Lower ARPU

Ncell Axiata Limited has recently revealed its financial report for the first quarter of 2021. It shows that the revenue and net profit of Ncell has declined. According to the financial statements, Ncell’s revenue has declined by Rs 1.5 billion in three months with a drop of ARPU despite higher data usage.

Check out: Ncell revenue decline by 12.5 billion in 2020.

Ncell’s net revenue and profit for Q1 2021 

As per the financial statistics, Ncell’s revenue has decreased by Rs 1.5 billion in the first quarter of this year as compared to last year. Ncell gathered a sum of Rs 12.039 billion in revenue in the Q1 of 2020. However, the amount declined this year to Rs 10.53 billion. 

The impact of the decline in the company’s revenue has impacted Ncell’s profit too.

Last year, Ncell earned a profit of Rs 1.61 billion in the first quarter of 2020. But, this year, it is limited to Rs 1.46 billion. Ncell’s profit has decreased by Rs 155 million in the first quarter of this year as compared to last year. 

Check out: Ncell lockdown offer 2021

Increment in Data usage and revenue 

According to Ncell’s financial statements, the revenue from data has improved. It has been 24 percent of the total revenue in the first three months of this year. It was, however, only 22 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Also, the demand for Ncell data is increasing exponentially, with more than double the volume consumed by the customers. The customers consumed a total of 63.7 million GB of data in the first quarter of 2021 which was just 29.7 million GB in the same period last year. Likewise, smartphone penetration in the Ncell network has also increased by 2% to 65 percent, than that of Q1 2020.

On the other hand, Ncell’s expenses in the first quarter also increased compared to the previous year. The company’s network costs increased by about 2 percent to 12.2 percent. 

According to Axiata’s quarterly financial statement, the revenue of Ncell got dropped by 15.0% in all segments due to adverse impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and existing business challenges. Whereas EBITDA dropped by 14.1%.

Check out: Why Telcos suffer huge revenue decline in pandemic?

Decrease in ARPU 

Not only has Ncell’s revenue and profits declined, but its Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) has also dropped. The earning for Postpaid users and Prepaid users are Rs 307 and Rs 216 respectively. 

Ncell earned an average of Rs 218 per user in the Q1 of 2021. It is Rs 15 lesser compared to an average of Rs 233 per user in the Q1 of 2020. 

Do Read: Ncell website updated with more features

Therefore, the company has lost about Rs 15 per user this year. A decrease in ARPU has also impacted the decline in the company’s income and profit.

Ncell Quarterly statement	Q1 2020	Q1 2021
Revenue	Rs 12.03 billion	Rs 10.53 billion
Profit	Rs 1.61 billion	Rs 1.46 billion
Data revenue share	22%	24%
ARPU	Rs 233	Rs 218

What do you think of Ncell’s Q1 2021 financial report, especially regarding the massive revenue decline despite the increase in data usage? Share your views in the comment section below.