Mobile operator Grameenphone Ltd declared a 275 per cent cash dividend at its 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Monday.
The board of directors of Grameenphone announced the dividend in cash at a rate of 145 per cent of its paid-up capital, or Tk 14.5 per share of Tk 10 each for the year 2020.
With this cash dividend payout, the total cash dividend of the company stands at 275 per cent of the paid-up capital, including the previous 130 per cent interim cash dividend payout, amounting to 99.86 per cent of profit after tax for 2020.
Grameenphone held its AGM on a virtual platform, as directed by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, with Jorgen C Arentz Rostrup, chair of the Grameenphone Board; Yasir Azman, CEO, and other board members and senior officials of the company in attendance.
Company Secretary S M Imdadul Haque moderated the programme.
Jorgen C Arentz Rostrup said, “Our focus for the year ahead will be to ensure Grameenphone’s long-term sustainability. We will continue to adapt to the challenges of the current COVID-19 reality.”
“The company focuses on ensuring a better network experience, ensuring growth, innovation, modernisation, and stand by society with responsible business conduct,” he added.
Yasir Azman said, “In 2020, we were agile, innovative and delivered a solid performance by running our operations following contingent ways of work in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and natural calamities while ensuring the safety of our employees and our supply chain partners.”
According to Grameenphone’s statement, the leading mobile operator wants to remain fixated on its operational efficiencies and strategies to ensure better coverage and customer-driven initiatives.
The company has acquired an additional 10.4 MHz spectrum in the latest BTRC auction, amounting to a total of 47.4 MHz spectrum.
On top of additional spectrum acquisition, Grameenphone has also celebrated 50 years of Bangladesh’s independence on March 26, 2021, by announcing all of its 15,500 towers across Bangladesh being 4G enabled.
Grameenphone is now well-positioned to boost customer experience further and contribute to the digitalisation of Bangladesh, according to its statement, adding that the company is working to meet the growing need for high-speed internet in the rural and urban areas.
