ISLAMABAD, Oct 30: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Tuesday declared 59 paisa per share dividend as it earned an after-tax profit of Rs3 billion during the first quarter (July-Sept) 2007-08.

PTCL announced that it had earned total revenue of Rs14.4 billion, showing a robust performance in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

A statement issued by the company said that the financial results were approved by the board of directors.

The company’s operating expenses were recorded at Rs10.7 billion against Rs10.1 billion of previous year showing an increase of 6 per cent. Non-operating income of Rs1,127 million was 14 per cent higher than the last year figure of Rs992 million.

Profit before-tax was Rs4.6 billion as compared to Rs7.7 billion for the same period last year and the net profit after-tax for the quarter remained at Rs3 billion.

The PTCL management was adopting new strategies to improve revenues. The decision to extend ISD facility to all the customers had a salutary impact on international traffic. Both the incoming and outgoing traffic showed healthy growth of 27 per cent and 148 per cent, respectively, as compared to the same period last year.

The board informed the members that PTCL broadband had been made operational in major cities whereas net-on phone service (24 hours on-line internet dialup access), was also introduced for all PTCL customers during this quarter.

The company is geared to march forward along these lines by introducing modern IPTV technologies.