Telenor Revenues Dip after SIM Reverification Drive

Telenor Pakistan’s revenue for second quarter 2015 fell marginally to Rs. 25.49 billion, down from Rs. 26 billion it generated during the same period last year.

Telenor said that revenues were negatively impacted by disconnected SIM cards after biometric reverification drive and reduced rates for incoming international traffic.

The EBITDA margin decreased by 10 percentage points mainly driven by the SIM issuance tax in combination with high sales and marketing activities after re-opening of sales channels, as well as increased commissions and taxes for financial services.

Capital expenditure increased from further expansion of 3G network. Telenor said that it added 668 new 3G sites on to the network during the quarter, thereby increasing the 3G coverage to a total of 141 cities across the country.

Company’s consolidated operating profit stood at Rs. 5 billion as compared to Rs. 7.32 billion it made during the same duration last year.

The number of subscriptions for Telenor Pakistan decreased by 5 million during the quarter following the disconnection of unverified SIMs. The number of biometrically verified subscriptions at the end of this quarter was 31.6 million, resulting in a subscription base which was 14% lower than the same quarter last year.

Thanks to correction in SIM data and mainly because low ARPU SIMs are now blocked, Telenor Pakistan’s ARPU in local currency increased by 12% to Rs. 213.

ARPU for postpaid subscriptions, however, decreased 14% to Rs. 580 from Rs. 684 during the same period last year.

Below are financial highlights for Q2 2015:

Telenor_Q2_2015

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • This is not the actual reason for the profit dip. After upgradation telenor network quality drastically went down and on other hand signal gray area increased. customer service on helpline and service centre also pitiful. These things fed up the customer and they start using telenor as a secondary number.

    • I doubt that .. As I have got 4 sims … Telenor, Warid, Zong & Ufone but the best 3G network and packages telenor has cannot be beaten by anyone.. Voice quality is good .. I had no problems with their customer service.. so my vote goes to Telenor which is the best network of Pakistan :)

      • Telenor has good coverage but not the best packages… Mobilink has best 3g Packages…..

        • I used Mobilink for 4 months and fed up with their so called 10Mhz 3G dude.. Come on , their services are pathetic :p

          • Cant agree more with u bro! I get half 3g signal and it disconnects a lot. Also, i think that the package to use unlimited internet after consuming rs.50 is pretty lucrative … so im gonna try telenor soon.

          • You are right. I am also not a very happy user of mobilink. But no one in my friends and family own telenor sim. Due to this reason I am using mobilink.

    • So sad with your experience I am also using Telenor since the very 1st day launched its services. Till now no problem with voice and now 3G coverage is also much better than any other operator. As far as customer service they have the state of art customer relation officers have a professional accent and with all compalint resolution in between 2 hrs. Now they also have the competative postpaid packages as compared to others.

  • Telenor is a good company my favorite but Sim was on my relative name so it was blocked I will buy new Sim sometime later.

    • no doubt thats how things should work…. excellent quality with warid always keeps one satisfied and worths spending extra money

    • Chankana qulality of service bro, eid days mein sms package he off kar dety han

  • Good to see telenor Rep here. As for as network quality and clarity is concerned i will rank pakistani operator as under

    1. Warid (I am using since 2014 as a secondary no and satisfied)
    2. Mobilink ( i am using as primary no since 2000 and satisfied)
    3. Zong (I am using since 2015 as secondary no but not too much satisfied)
    4. Telenor (My official no since 2005 to 2014 after upgrade pathetic network service)
    5. Ufone (My official no since 2014 – todate (A tension for me)


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