TELE2 published full year report 2007
TELE2 Russia today announced its consolidated results for the fourth quarter and full year 2007. TELE2 Russia continued to combine solid customer intake with good profitability in Q4 2007. The customer base grew by 554,000 (compared to 859,0001 in 2006) and operating revenue reached USD 210 (136 in '06) million, an increase of 54 percent. ARPU was USD 8.58 (8.14 in '06) in Q4 2007. EBITDA reached USD 65 (36 in '06) million, which corresponds to an EBITDA margin of 31 (26 136 in '06 ) percent.
In Q4 2007, TELE2 Russia was awarded 17 new regional GSM 1800 licenses. The population in the new regions added up to 19.1 million. However the license process has been challenged in court. TELE2's ambition, going forward, is to develop the existing footprint, but also to opportunistically expand into new regions in Russia, both through licenses and through acquisitions. On October 5, 2007, TELE2 acquired all shares in Telecom Eurasia, with an 1800 MHz GSM-license in the Russian region Krasnodar. Krasnodar is the third biggest region in Russia as well as the second biggest roaming region.
Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, President and CEO of TELE2 AB comments: В«With progress comes challenge - we need to find qualified personnel, establish a local presence in all regions and expand commercially viable mobile networks. On the other hand our historic performance in mobile operations proves we have a successful business model in placeВ»
The results of TELE2 Russia for the full year 2007 are the following: operating revenue for this period is USD 747 million (USD 417 million for the same period in 2006), EBITDA is USD 235 million (USD 84 million for the same period in 2006), and EBITDA margin is 31% (20% for the same period in 2006). The customer base grew up by 33% up to 8 560 000 customers (as of December, 31, 2007) compared with 6 453 000 customers in 2006.
The main results of TELE2 AB are following:
