Revenue from the Pakistan operations of VEON rose 26.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs144.94 billion in the third quarter of calendar year 2026, covering July to September, Mettis Global reported. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) grew 23.9 percent to Rs65.17 billion, while earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased 53.1 percent to Rs44.24 billion. For the first nine months of 2026, revenue climbed 24.2 percent to Rs414.39 billion, EBITDA gained 27.7 percent to Rs184.07 billion, and EBIT improved 14.8 percent to Rs123.33 billion. The figures show that growth has continued through the year, with the third quarter ahead of the pace recorded over the nine months.
Telecom and infrastructure revenue increased 15.5 percent to Rs86.83 billion, while digital revenue grew 47.9 percent to Rs58.11 billion, which lifted the share of digital in total revenue to 40.1 percent from 34.3 percent a year earlier. The EBITDA margin narrowed to 45.0 percent from 45.9 percent, as the telecom and infrastructure margin slipped to 51.5 percent from 55.1 percent, even though its EBITDA rose 7.9 percent to Rs44.72 billion. Digital EBITDA gained 83.5 percent to Rs20.45 billion, with its margin widening to 35.2 percent from 28.4 percent. Capital expenditure jumped 68.9 percent to Rs20.95 billion, and Jazz said the spending reflects network capacity expansion and 5G deployment after the recent spectrum acquisitions, with more than 1,000 5G sites rolled out so far.
On the telecom side, mobile customers grew 5.1 percent to 76.4 million, 4G and 5G users rose 8.1 percent to 59.5 million, and average revenue per user (ARPU) increased 7.1 percent to Rs320.0, while data usage rose 11.7 percent to 8.4 GB per user. Total digital customers stood at 133.8 million, including 36.3 million on SIMOSA, 33.9 million on Tamasha, 30.4 million on JazzCash, 16.8 million policyholders on FikrFree, and 3.3 million on ROX. Tamasha users declined from 38.7 million in the second quarter, which VEON linked to normalisation after the Pakistan Super League season. Revenue of Jazz as the digital operator grew 14.6 percent to Rs103.38 billion, supported by pricing actions, better prepaid monetisation, subscriber growth, and higher data usage.
The financial services arm, which includes Mobilink Microfinance Bank, JazzCash, and JazzSure Insurance, was the fastest growing part of the business. Its revenue jumped 67.6 percent to Rs43.42 billion, and its net profit came in at Rs6.80 billion, while nine-month revenue rose 58.4 percent to Rs116.19 billion with net profit at Rs13.30 billion. Branchless bank accounts rose 21.6 percent to 65.0 million, gross transaction value increased 79.2 percent to Rs6.93 trillion, and active merchants more than doubled to 957,100. The gross loan portfolio expanded 51.9 percent to Rs134.64 billion, the non-performing loan ratio on banking loans improved to 8.1 percent from 10.4 percent, and customer deposits rose 61.6 percent to Rs287.07 billion.
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