Millicom International Cellular has commented on the recent initiatives announced by the CRT, Colombian regulator. The interconnect rate has been reduced with immediate effect from around USD 0.12 to USD 0.06 and, as part of the new regulations, the interconnection between operators will continue to be symmetric but charged on a per-second basis. The changes will allow MIllicom's local operator Tigo to improve the affordability of its services over time and the resulting price elasticity will be an important driver for future revenue growth. However, in the short term mobile operator Tigo will see a negative effect on revenues and margins in Colombia as the company currently generates substantially more incoming than outgoing calls interconnecting with other operators. In Q4 the impact will be limited but in 2008 revenue and margin in Colombia will be affected.
