EL7.AI
StocksMedium•27 October 2026•
4 min read

Grameenphone Adds 0.6 Million Subscribers Despite Decline in Consolidated Revenue in Third Quarter

Key Facts

1Grameenphone added 0.6 million subscribers in the third quarter, bringing its subscriber base to 86.8 million at period-end.
2Telenor’s consolidated service revenue was 2,961 million kroner in the third quarter, compared with 3,169 million a year earlier.
3Service revenue grew organically by 0.3%, while adjusted earnings were flat organically at 0.0%, including a positive one-off item of 20 million kroner.
4Grameenphone’s second-quarter revenue was 3,982 crore taka, down 3.0% year on year.
5Telenor’s third-quarter report is scheduled for publication on 28 October 2026.

Grameenphone added 0.6 million subscribers during the third quarter of 2026, lifting its subscriber base to 86.8 million at period-end, according to a Telenor disclosure filed through the Oslo Stock Exchange. The increase came in a quarter when the company’s local revenue returned to year-on-year growth, according to the results context published in local coverage. But this improvement does not mean overall financial performance returned to growth, as revenue and earnings in the first nine months remained below their levels in the corresponding period of 2025. Telenor’s consolidated figures show declines in service revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization compared with the third quarter of last year. The results therefore set growth in the customer base against continued pressure on revenue and profitability.

According to Telenor’s consolidated figures, service revenue was 2,961 million Norwegian kroner in the third quarter, compared with 3,169 million in the corresponding quarter of 2025. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were 1,827 million kroner, down from 1,960 million. This comparison reflects a decline in reported values in kroner year on year, while differing from the organic-change measure, which excludes the impact of certain factors. The company said service revenue grew organically by 0.3% during the quarter, while adjusted earnings were flat organically at 0.0%. Telenor said this stability included a positive one-off item of 20 million Norwegian kroner, a factor to consider when reading the operating performance.

At the local-market level, second-quarter 2026 revenue was 3,982 crore taka, down 3.0% year on year, while net profit after tax was 759 crore taka and the EBITDA margin was about 58.0%, according to Grameenphone’s officially published performance comparison. These figures provide context for the new quarterly results, showing that the year-on-year revenue decline preceded the third quarter. They also distinguish between movements in revenue and net profit on one hand, and the operating earnings margin on the other. In the new results, local quarterly revenue growth remains limited in its significance when compared with the nine-month performance, which remained below the corresponding period in 2025. The available information did not include a consolidated local figure for third-quarter revenue or net profit that could be set alongside the second-quarter figures.

The subscriber additions coincided with organic service revenue growth of 0.3%, but the figures do not provide a breakdown directly linking the increase in customers to revenue movements or average spending. At the same time, consolidated service revenue and adjusted earnings in kroner declined compared with the third quarter of 2025, despite adjusted earnings being flat on an organic basis. These differences underscore the importance of reading the subscriber base alongside revenue and profitability, rather than treating it as a standalone indicator of broad financial improvement. Telenor’s disclosure cited the positive one-off item of 20 million kroner in adjusted earnings, a factor to account for when interpreting the organic stability recorded in the quarter. For the nine-month period, the year-on-year direction of revenue and earnings remained negative according to the local results context.

Chief Executive Yasser Azam said in a statement accompanying the second-quarter results that the company would continue to focus on operational efficiency and disciplined investment. He added that this included "upgrading the network, digital platforms and new technologies," placing the development of operating infrastructure among the company’s stated priorities. This approach comes in a market where results have been linked to movements in the subscriber base and service revenue, while continuing to require a distinction between quarterly revenue growth and the nine-month outcome. The statement did not include figures for the impact of future investments on revenue or earnings, so its focus remained on management priorities rather than realized financial results. The published second-quarter comparison showed that the company then recorded a year-on-year decline in revenue, alongside specified net profit and EBITDA margin.

Telenor is scheduled to publish its third-quarter report on 28 October 2026, according to the financial events calendar on the company’s disclosure page at the Oslo Stock Exchange. The forthcoming report will provide a broader presentation of consolidated figures, including service revenue and adjusted earnings, with a year-on-year comparison. Local nine-month results, according to the published data, remain below the corresponding period of 2025 in terms of revenue and earnings, despite the limited quarterly return to revenue growth. The subscriber base, which reached 86.8 million, will provide an additional operating indicator alongside those financial comparisons. The report is due on 28 October, following the announcement of subscriber growth and third-quarter operating data.