Mobilink Revenues Decline 9% in Q3 2014

Mobilink has posted a worrying 9% decline in its revenues during Q3 2014. Company said that it generated Rs. 24.2 billion during the quarter that ended September 30th, 2014 – down from Rs. 26.7 billion it had generated during same duration last year.

With this Mobilink lost its market leadership position to Telenor – in terms of revenues – as Telenor upped its revenues to Rs. 25.12 billion during the reported quarter, around 4% more than what Mobilink generated.

Mobilink said that Pakistan’s political environment with opposition parties demanding political and electoral reforms and national power shortfall (with 6-8 hours of power cut per day) added towards the dip in revenues.

Furthermore, as per financial details, Mobilink shifted its pricing strategy to counter competition which ultimately resulted into lower revenues. On the other side, efforts to enhance customer experience, particularly the shift to a transparent charging regime on subscriptions, also lowered VAS revenues. And finally, the lower local and international incoming traffic translated into lower interconnect charges from ICH.

Mobilink’s ARPU during Q3 2014 stood at Rs. 195 per user per month, down from Rs. 229 per user per month an year ago

ARPU decreased 15% YoY due to price dilution, as mentioned above, in an aggressive market as competitors actively matched offers. Company’s ARPU during Q3 2014 stood at Rs. 195 per user per month, down from Rs. 229 per user per month it reported during last year’s same quarter.

EBITDA decreased 30% YoY, negatively impacted by lower service revenue YoY alongside higher customer associated costs, network costs and HR costs.
All in all, almost everything plumped for Mobilink during Q3 2014.

Some positive things happened as well, for example Mobilink’s data revenue increased 40% YoY, mainly driven by 3G services and Mobile Financial Services. Mobilink’s Data revenues stood at Rs. 1.3 billion during the reported quarter.

Data revenues increased 40% to Rs. 1.3 Billion

Mobilink said that its network modernization is on track, which is supporting QoQ developments in customer usage. In addition, Mobilink is aggressively rolling out 3G sites and focusing on expanding its MFS retailer network.

CAPEX increased to USD 97 million mainly due to the network modernization project.

Mobilink said that its customers made an average of 236 minutes of voice calls per month during the quarter, up from 222 average voice minutes per month a year ago.

Competitive pressures and a challenging regulatory environment with country-wide implementation of the biometric verification system led to a YoY slowdown in customer base growth, said the company. During the quarter company’s customer base grew 4% YoY to 38.7.

Mobilink’s Financial Highlights 

Mobilink_Revenues_Q3_2014

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • Data revenues have been increased by 40% which is a positive sign.And now recently introduced 3G packages have attracted large number of new customers which will raise data revenues substantially during this quarter.More focus on data side will improve their financial figures.There is huge potential on data side.

  • Average voice minutes per month have increased from 222 to 236 which is also a positive sign means voice market has huge potential also due to their better quality of service just like data.

  • Increase in revenue mainly driven by 3G services and mobile financial services, so now can we expect continuity of current 3G tariff after Nov 30th?

    • I think current 3G tariff will continue after 30 November as company has attracted more than 1 million 3G customers due to this reduced tariff.All mobile companies will concentrate more on data now as data field has huge potential now.

  • Zabaan ka pakka n Har hisaab se best Keh denay se sb kch theek nahi h0jata Mobilink waalo0 . . . Kaam kr0 kaam, Zong ban0 Zong :P

  • Zabaan ka pakka n Har hisaab se best Keh denay se sb kch theek nahi h0jata Mobilink waalo0 . . . Kaam kr0 kaam, Zong ban0 Zong :P

  • I am not surprised at all. Its the most non customer orientated company in pakistan. Its Corporate Sales is totally farigh and so is their connectivity.

    • no worries sir, company revenues will rise again. such normal losses are part and parcel of every company..The Dip is due to the lower tariff plans,Mobilink shifted its pricing strategy to counter competition which ultimately resulted into lower revenues Company is customer oriented and more transparent more. More positive signs coming soon….

  • Great News. I hope Mobilink suffers even more since they have already looted so much from the customers.

    • no worries sir, company revenues will rise again. such normal losses are part and parcel of every company..The Dip is due to the lower tariff plans,Mobilink shifted its pricing strategy to counter competition which ultimately resulted into lower revenues Company is customer oriented and more transparent more. More positive signs coming soon.

      • You being a coordinator at Mobilink would obviously claim the glass to be half full. It is only after a round of layoffs that Mobilinkers start telling some home truths. Mobilink is known for fleecing the customers and I hope they lose more and more

        • Being an employee, I agree with you that Mobilink was known for Milking the customers which is past now. This year, company had made some drastic changes into their marketing and pricing strategy which resulted in positive feedback from customers and will certainly result in positive revenues in the longer run.

  • admin u post an article few days back with the tag line of Mobilink stood first among all operators in 3g users dn how dy pose such loss in Q3 ?

  • And they still call themselves they are most rapidly growing 3G network. I doubt that. Though I am their customer.

    • 3G/4G Rollouts of all 3G/4G operators are in progress.Same is the case with Mobilink.70% of these rollouts will be completed within 6 months.Then customers will see the difference.Quality will improve and tariffs will reduce further and more than 10 million customers of all these operators will be enjoying these services.

  • This is the 2nd quarter in a row where Mobilink has posted negative growth across all key indicators whether they be ARPU, EBITDA, EBITDA Margins and Revenue. All things point to deeper problems within the Company that despite a heavy spend on branding, it’s market share is declining and is now second to Telenor in terms of revenue. The reasons cited for decline in revenue (political instability, power outages, LDI margins due to ICH) are universal to all operators, so hiding behind such reasons is an attempt to divert attention away from core issues within the company.

    When Jeffery was hired as its CEO, I pointed out on this forum that he was the wrong guy to lead this company as his experience in growing a company is lacking or he wouldn’t have been fired from Cell-C and MultiLinks. Sales & Marketing is in shambles as Bilal is too focused on becoming the COO, network quality is subpar, M-Commerce hasn’t delivered in terms of revenue significance, while product/VAS group has done nothing to support 3G.

    A change of guard, revisit of core strategy and shuffle in management team are required. Jeffery probably will get another year, but the second tier needs to be replaced.

  • Yes its going as predicted because mobilink hired one of its most pethatic and in competiant senior managment and managers. So definitely revenues will go more down

  • Yes its going as predicted because mobilink hired one of its most pethatic and in competiant senior managment and managers. So definitely revenues will go more down

  • Dont forgot one thing, Rashid Khan ex CEO could easily manipulate the numbers and it was always a +ive number, even the employees never understood this, as they raised this in one of yearly meeting, to which Rahid answered, you dont want your bonus? :D.

    Anyway may be the new CEO has better practices and more genuine numbers are coming out which was reality from Rashid Khan days.

    While customer thinks that Mobilink is milking them, the CEO was milking the company. :D

  • Agreed.Mobilink recent 3G Packages are awesome.It should retain them permanently then they can easily capture 6 to 7 million customers within four to five months.


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