Telenor reported a small increase in revenues in the first quarter, while underlying service revenue growth was flat and EBITDA lower due to continued weakness in Thailand and Myanmar. The company said it still expects a small increase over the full year, although has yet to include the Thai operation in that forecast.
Total revenues rose 2 percent, or 0.3 percent on an organic basis, to NOK 27.7 billion in Q1. Subscription and traffic revenues were flat on an organic basis, at NOK 21.443 billion, as growth in Pakistan and Bangladesh and the home market Norway helped offset the weakness elsewhere in Asia and continued declines in legacy fixed business in Scandinavia.
The total subscription base surpassed 176 million this quarter, as 2.3 million mobile subscriptions were added. Telenor said it grew the customer base in all its Emerging Asia markets, where it saw the first positive net adds since second quarter last year in Myanmar with 1.2 million new subscriptions. Bangladesh and Pakistan added 1.3 million and 0.7 million subscriptions, respectively. This was partly offset by losses of 0.5 million in Thailand and 0.4 million in Malaysia. The share of active data users in the subscription base increased to 55 percent.
EBITDA fell 3.5 percent on an organic basis to NOK 11.2 billion, hurt by the poor results at Dtac in Thailand. Excluding Dtac, organic EBITDA rose 1.9 percent, Telenor said, led by strong improvement in Bangladesh and Pakistan. The EBITDA margin was down 1 percent point year-on-year to 40.3 percent.
Net profit was also lower, at NOK 3.9 billion versus 5.0 billion a year ago, amid an increase in net financing charges.
Capex excluding licences and spectrum rose by NOK 1 billion to NOK 4.0 billion, resulting in a capex to sales ratio of 15 percent. The growth was driven by the fibre roll-out in Norway and 2,300MHz deployment in Thailand. Telenor still expects a total capex budget for the year of NOK 16-17 billion. Free cash flow for the quarter was down slightly to NOK 2.5 billion.
For the full year, Telenor maintained its guidance for organic subscription and traffic revenue growth of 0-2 percent and organic EBITDA growth of 1-3 percent. Dtac is expected to provide its outlook in June, which will then be incorporated in the group guidance.
