Base ends Q1’09 with 3.497Mn subscribers (Belgium)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Base, the Belgian mobile operator, has posted a 4.9% rise Q1’09 revenues to EUR 191 million. Service revenues grew by 6.2% to EUR 154 million, whereas EBITDA rose by 13% to EUR 62 million. The Belgian operator added 52,000 new subscribers in Q1, of which 14,000 attributed to the postpaid base, taking the total to 3.497 million subscribers at Q1’09-end.
Net additions in comparison to Q4′s 204,000 were sluggish and the operator also cleaned-up the inactive prepaid base, resulting in the loss of 93,000 subscribers.
ARPU for the operator dipped to EUR 15 from EUR 16 in Q4, while SAC/SRC rose to EUR 18 from EUR 17. MOU rose to 124 minutes/customer from 122 in Q4.
Base said it intends to launch first HSPA services towards 2009-end in major cities, and further expansion planned for 2010.