TeliaSonera reported fourth-quarter sales of SEK 24.921 billion, up 7.5 percent from a year earlier. Acqusitions added 3.3 percent of the growth and exchange rates had a positive effect of 0.6 percent. EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, fell to SEK 7.208 billion from 7.766 billion, hurt by investments in Spain and IP services as well as regulatory decisions and price erosion, the operator said. Net profit was up to SEK 4.467 billion from SEK 4.029 billion a year earlier thanks to a lower tax bill. For 2008, TeliaSonera forecast stable growth in sales, an adjusted EBITDA margin at least at 2007's level and higher net profit, excluding one-time items. Capex is expected to reach SEK 15 billion versus SEK 13.5 billion in 2007. The company plans another SEK 5 billion in cost savings over the next two years in its home markets Sweden and Finland in order to boost results, after already cutting costs by SEK 1.5 billion last year. The new plans will result in 2,900 job cuts, of which about two-thirds in Sweden.
At the company's mobile business, quarterly sales rose to SEK 11.456 billion from SEK 10.407 billion a year earlier, thanks to higher traffic and more subscriptions. The number of customers increased to 14.501 million at the end of 2007, of which 403,000 at its new Spanish operation Yoigo, 268,000 from the takeover of Debitel Denmark and 137,000 from buying Zetcom in Latvia. That compares to a total 13.434 million customers at end-2006. In Sweden, the number of subscriptions increased by 310,000 over the full year, excluding the deactivation of 106,000 old NMT subscriptions in the fourth quarter. In Finland and Estonia, the number of subscriptions rose slightly in 2007, while Norway and Lithuania showed a decrease of 64,000 and 62,000, respectively. ARPU dipped to SEK 225 from SEK 227 in Q4 2006, while MOU increased to 194 from 186. EBITDA from mobile fell to SEK 2.932 billion from SEK 3.297 billion, hurt by losses of SEK 464 million in Spain.
In fixed-line activities, sales fell to SEK 10.366 billion from SEK 10.496 billion a year earlier, and EBITDA dropped to SEK 3.291 billion from SEK 3.308 billion. Fixed voice customers fell to 6.218 million from 6.497 million at the end of 2006, while broadband customers tose to 2.326 million from 1.990 million. ARPU dropped to SEK 265 from SEK 286 in Q4 2006.
