Millicom, owner of Tigo-branded operations across Latin America and Africa, reported a 0.1 percent year on year rise in revenues to USD 1.09 billion in the first quarter of 2021, following Covid-impacted falls of 5.3 percent, 6.5 percent and 8.0 percent in the previous three quarters. Total net profit also turned positive at USD 42 million in the first quarter, compared to a USD 122 million net loss a year earlier. “We did not just recover, we are now above pre-Covid levels on most of our operational and financial KPIs,” said Millicom CEO Mauricio Ramos.
In its main market of Latin America, Millicom’s first-quarter service revenues climbed 2.2 percent on an organic basis to USD 1.41 billion thanks to strong growth across all businesses and markets. The company’s EBITDA rose 5.9 percent year on year on an organic basis to USD 638 million, with the margin increasing by nearly 2 percentage points to 41.7 percent, while OCF grew 10.4 percent to USD 471 million, consistent with Millicom’s target of at least USD 1.4 billion for the year.
In terms of customers, the operator’s mobile base increased 8.5 percent year on year in Latin America as a whole to 42.8 million at the end of March thanks in part to 1.1 million acquisitions in Q1 alone. Total 4G customers were up 26.5 percent year on year to 18.8 million and the company added 140,000 postpaid customers in Q1 to end the quarter with 5.1 million, still 75,000 below its pre-Covid peak.
Millicom’s HFC segment also had a positive quarter, with the company reporting record residential customer net adds of 166,000 in the January to March period alone and stable ARPU, prompting a service revenue growth of 6.5 percent. Total HFC revenue generating units came to 7.97 million at the end of March, up 11.6 percent year on year, while homes passed reached 12.2 million, up 2.7 percent.
