KARACHI, Oct 29 (Focus Pakistan) — PTCL profit fell to Rs.62 million in the July-September quarter, even as the group’s mobile arm pushed its combined subscriber base past 76 million and took roughly 40% of the industry’s net additions.
Group revenue jumped 61% to Rs102.7 billion in the quarter, up from Rs63.7 billion a year earlier. Almost none of it reached the bottom line. Earnings per share came to one paisa.
The result still beats the Rs1.3 billion loss of a year earlier. Within 2026, though, it marks a steep slide. The group earned Rs3.1 billion in January-March and about Rs4.67 billion across the first six months.
Management told analysts where the money went. Energy bills climbed. A new regulatory charge on incoming international calls took its first full-quarter bite. Interest and depreciation from the Telenor Pakistan acquisition added to the strain. Management estimated that profit would have reached Rs2.1 billion, or Rs0.41 a share, without those three hits.
Record sign-ups, stalled revenue
Ufone, which now carries former Telenor customers under Pak Telecom Mobile Ltd, added 1.5 million net subscribers in the quarter. Its 4G users now number 52.6 million.
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Revenue failed to keep pace from the previous quarter. Management admitted the top line went nowhere sequentially, and it pointed to network closures in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan added smaller dents. AJK alone cost an estimated Rs1 billion.
The group’s microfinance arm, UBank, lost about Rs600 million of revenue after a rise in suspended markup income.
Diesel and a 0.5-cent toll
Diesel and fuel eat up about 43% of Ufone’s energy bill. Electricity accounts for the rest. The company has turned to solar panels and batteries leased on a service basis, and it is shutting overlapping sites. Management expects the savings to trickle in first. Bigger gains should follow once it decommissions sites and cuts its vendor list.
The PTA levy will stick around. Operators now pay the regulator 0.5 US cents for every minute of incoming international traffic, a charge that kicked in late in the second quarter. Management called it a recurring cost. It also expects the levy to drive grey traffic back into legal channels over time.
Average revenue per wireless user stood at Rs315 a month. Ufone’s pre-merger base grew that figure 6% through September, and Telenor’s numbers are improving too. The group is raising prices on mobile and fixed-line services to keep up with inflation and energy costs.
The merger math
Integration has wrapped up in more than 20 cities. PTCL targets over 40% network consolidation by the end of 2026 and full consolidation in 2027. PTCL took control of Telenor Pakistan on December 31, 2025, and the merger of the two operators won final court approval at the end of June 2026.
5G remains a slow burn. Ufone runs the service in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, but only 4% of handsets in use can connect to it. Over the next two to three years, management expects the new spectrum, the 2.6GHz band in particular, to do its heaviest lifting on 4G capacity.
Towers on the block?
The boldest move sits in the tower business. PTCL has started shifting towers into Orion Towers, the tower company it acquired alongside Telenor Pakistan. The carve-out should take four to six months. After that, management said, it could weigh a transaction for the portfolio.
The subscribers have arrived. The profit, for now, has not.
