Robi, the country’s second-largest mobile operator, failed to register profit for the third consecutive quarter, counting net losses of Tk 103 crore in the first quarter of 2018 despite favourable growth in subscriber base and revenue.

In the previous two quarters, Robi logged in losses of Tk 46.90 crore and Tk 134.80 crore respectively.

Intense competition on both data and voice pricing caused the losses, said Shahed Alam, executive vice-president and head of regulatory affairs at Robi.  

The operator also blamed the losses on the additional expenditure of 4G rollout, the increased borrowing rate in the market and the prevailing high tax regime.

The operator registered Tk 1,627.8 crore as gross revenue for the January-March period, up 5.22 percent year-on-year.

Its active subscribers base grew 6.3 percent quarter-on-quarter to reach 4.56 crore, out of which 2.53 crore are internet users.