Botswana Telecommunications Corporation(BTC) revealed a 12% decline in profits over the previous year half year unaudited results owing to a large extent to challenges experienced in teething problems relating to migration of mobile customer accounts to the new converged billing system.
BTC recorded a profit for the period of P86million down from P98million last year, revenues of P704 million from P794 million in the prior period despite a decline of costs by 11% to P619million from P697million and a 19% reduction in administration expenses.
“The problems encountered included compromised product performance, which led to compromised customer experience and partner(ie. Distribution channel) confidence. The company also experienced delays in billing and launching new products,” said Anthony Masunga, Managing Director of Botswana Telecommunications Corporation(BTC).
He said, “However the challenges have since been resolved and we have been able t launch new innovative products and services such as Live Social and My Connek bundles and we are now seeing an increased uptake of mobile data services.”
There appears to be a switch in usage amongst customers from use of voice and SMS to more data centric usage in line with market trends. However, fixed voce remains a significant revenue contributor with a significant growth being experienced in the residential segment.
In an effort to cater for increased demand for data services BTC is making investments in enhanced capacity like expanding the 4G and FTTx networks to reach over 400 sites by March next year. BTC currently has 133 sites around the country.
“We have made significant investments in improving the reach and capabilities of our VSAT services. The soon to be launched enhanced VSAT services will mostly benefit sectors operating outside major cities such as the Tourism and Agricultural sectors. To improve margins, the company will focus o driving efficiencies in the areas of transmission costs, billing system convergence and consolidation of system support contracts,” said Masunga.
He said, “We are optimistic about the second half of the year and beyond. We remain focused on our two pronged strategy of growth and transformation with a more concerted effort in improving customer experience by diversifying our product our portfolio and value proposition to retain and acquire new customers.”
The real GDP growth of 5.3% in second quarter of 2018 does not appear to have had a positive impact on results with the 3.7% growth in inflation eroding consumer buying power.
