COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s Telia Company said that net sales in Denmark in reported currency rose by 5.9 percent in the first quarter to SEK1.48 billion from SEK1.40 billion. In local currency excluding acquisitions and disposals, net sales grew by 3.5 percent, thanks mainly to increased equipment sales.
Mobile consumer segment growth was almost fully offset by pressure in the business division.
Telia continued its “volume to value” strategy during the quarter and hence terminated some legacy products, offering customers more value-based products instead, it said.
Total service revenues rose to SEK1.06 billion from SEK1.03 billion a year earlier. Service revenues in local currency rose by 1.3 percent, driven by higher interconnection and wholesale revenues. Fixed service revenues fell to SEK230 million from SEK244 million a year earlier.
The number of fixed broadband subscriptions declined by 2,000 in the quarter to 126,000. Broadband ARPU improve to DKK 151 from DKK 144 in Q4 2016. Television subscriptions remained unchanged in the quarter at 28,000 and TV ARPU grew to DKK 370 from DKK 357 in the fourth quarter of last year.
Mobile billed service revenues increased by 0.1 percent as growth in the consumer segment was almost fully offset by pressure in the enterprise segment. Mobile service revenue rose to SEK827 million from SEK775 million a year earlier. The consumer mobile market remained fairly stable from a pricing perspective in the quarter but competition remained fierce, said Telia.
The number of mobile subscriptions declined by 28,000 over the quarter to 1.58 million. Blended mobile ARPU rose to DKK 127 from DKK 125 in the fourth quarter of 2016 and blended mobile churn was unchanged at 45 percent.
Capital expenditure grew to SEK114 million from SEK101 million. EBITDA in reported currency excluding non-recurring items increased by 2.7 percent to SEK140 million from SEK137 million. The EBITDA margin fell to 9.5 percent from 9.8 percent. EBITDA edged up by 0.4 percent in local currency.