Total revenues for the quarter were down 5.7 percent to USD 1.572 billion, after currency effects and a 0.7 percent organic decline in Latin America offset 9.2 percent growth in Africa. Ongoing cost-reduction efforts helped the EBITDA margin still improve to 34.5 percent from 33.6 percent a year ago. Millicom, which operates under the brand name Tigo, said it was hurt by tough competition in Colombia and was also seeing a more difficult market in Tanzania.
While voice and SMS revenue are suffering from the poor economic climate, the company continues to focus on growth from data, financial services and expansion in the cable TV market. It added another 880,000 smartphone data users in the quarter to take penetration to 31.6 percent of its total 57.8 million mobile customers. Total mobile net additions in Q2 reached 300,000, of which 127,000 in Latam and 171,000 in Africa. Mobile data revenue was up 25.9 percent year-on-year, and revenue from financial services rose 23.8 percent to USD 34 million.
Cable revenue grew by 7.7 percent to USD 402 million. Total revenue generating units increased by 41,000 from Q1 to 5.46 million, with the growth coming primarily from pay-TV offers. The cable footprint expanded by a net 74,000 to 7.8 million homes passed, with 161,000 additions via HFC technology. Nearly 59 percent of households were on double- or triple-play plans, around 4 percentage points more than a year ago. The ARPU per home connected was USD 26.9, up 4.8 percent year-on-year in local currency.
Millicom also reduced its capital expenditure forecast for the full year, to USD 1.10 billion from a previous budget of USD 1.15-1.25 billion. In the second quarter, it spent USD 222 million, of which USD 197 million in Latin America and USD 24 million in Africa. Operating cash flow improved by 13 percent to USD 331 million inQ2, as lower EBITDA was more than offset by lower capex.
