ARPU

Europe gears up for SMS- based mobile payments

On 03.17.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Europeans now seem to be willing to pay for goods from their phones and with the successful trial in Sweden; the continent seems to be ripe enough for SMS-based mobile payments to take off. 20% increase in sales of the seven vending machines in two Stockholm underground stations was reported where the service was trialed by the payment and messaging equipment provider, Ericsson IPX, besides boosting carrier’s ARPU through increased SMS traffic.

The commercial services in Sweden is now planned to be launched and is set to begin fresh trials in Oslo, Norway, by end March. According to Donya Ekstrand, head of marketing and communications at Ericsson IPX, the Swedish trial was successful because consumers are familiar with how SMS works, and using that technology provides a clear revenue stream for carriers.

Partner firm Mobivending, on the other hand, has shown its unwillingness to discuss how many people had used the service in Stockholm. It has also been explained by CEO Katarina Lowenberg that it was up to the carriers to discuss usage, but said that individuals spent around 50% more when paying for goods via SMS because it was more convenient than fishing around their pockets for change.

Telecom Argentina net profit rises 46%

On 03.11.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 15 percent year-on-year rise in the revenues has been reported by Telecom Argentina generating ARS 12.26 billion in 2009. With 46 percent rise in the net income for the period reached ARS 1.4 billion. The mobile revenues of the company rose 16 percent to ARS 8.06 billion while the fixed-line revenues increased 14 percent to ARS 4.1 billion.

17% improvement in OIBDA has also been noticed which reached ARS 3.9 billion. 1.9 million new customers has been gained by the company in the year 2009 for a total of 14.5 million and out of total, 69 percent are prepaid and 31 percent are postpaid.

Company’s Paraguay unit, Nucleo had 1.8 million customers at the end of the period, down 1 percent from a year earlier. 2 percent increase in the number of lines of the fixed division has been showed which reached up to 4.36 million and the number of ADSL customers rose 17 percent year-on-year to 1.2 million users at end-December.

With 1% rise, ARPU for fixed customers reached ARS 40 in 2009.

Tagged with: Argentina • ARPU • Europe • Net Income • Net Profit • OIBDA • Paraguay • South America • Telecom Argentina

Megafon records 3.7% rise in revenues

On 03.11.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An increase of 3.7 percent in the revenues has been announced by Russian mobile operator Megafon, earning RUB 181.9 billion for 2009. OIBDA went down to RUB 88.2 billion, decreasing 0.1 percent, and the OIBDA margin dropped to 48.5 percent from 50.5 percent in 2008.

2.2 percent increase in the net profit has also been reported generating RUB 45.3 billion. RUB 33.5 billion in free cash flow last year has been generated and with 4.7 percent increase, the CAPEX closed at RUB 52.5 billion. OIBDA dropped 2.0 percent over the same period to RUB 23.1 billion while the fourth-quarter revenues were up 1.9 percent from the third quarter of 2009 to RUB 48.4 billion and the OIBDA margin fell to 47.7 percent from 49.6.

The number of subscribers increased by 16.3 percent, year-on-year, to reach the total of 50.74 million at the end of 2009. The MOU of the company rose 3.6 percent to 285 while ARPU was down 3.1 percent from Q3 to RUB 316. For 2010, Megafon has declared that it will continue with the expansion of its retail network and 3G services.

Tagged with: 3G • ARPU • ASIA • MegaFon • MoU • OIBDA • operator • Russia

SmarTone’s revenue falls and EBITDA rises by 7% (Hong Kong)

On 03.05.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 7% year-on-year decrease in the total revenue for the six months ended December 31, 2009 has been released by Hong Kong-based cellco SmarTone. Lower handset and accessory sales, and a 2% decline in services revenue brought the revenue to USD233 million.

As a result of the reduction in interconnection charges and cost control measures, 7% growth in the EBITDA has been recorded while the net profit increased by 112% to HKD111 million. 8% rise in the customer numbers has also been recorded, reaching to 1.231 million as of December 31, 2009. Out of this, 70% were post-paid customers.

Post-paid churn rate improved to 1.5% from 2.0% and blended ARPU fell by 7% to HKD214 in the six-month period compared to HKD230 a year earlier. The trend reflects continued downward pressure on local tariffs and lower roaming revenue.

23% year-on-year increase has been witnessed in data service revenue and it accounted for 33% of service revenue in the period under review. The HSPA+ network is already complete till 28.8Mbps, increasing the network speed to 42Mbps in 2010. This will pave the way for 80Mbps and even higher speeds with the implementation of 4G LTE services.

3G license was awarded to SmarTone in September 2009 and the country will start enjoying the 3G network in 2010.

Tagged with: 3G • 4G • ARPU • ASIA • EBITDA • Hong Kong • Net Profit • SmarTone

Etisalat concerned by low Pakistani ARPUs

On 03.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Lowest average revenue per user has been delivered by Etisalat’s Pakistani subsidiary when compared to its other overseas operations. Etisalat generates ARPUs of $49 in its home market while Pakistan Telecom Company’s (PTCL’s) ARPUs have fallen to just US$3.

According to Etisalat chairman Mohammad Omran, the telco is increasing its focus on its international operations where its subsidiaries contribute 10% of revenues but the company aims to increase this to 20% by 2013.

Etisalat’s acquisition of 26% stake in PTCL for $2.6 billion in 2005, which was completed after facing a stiff competition from China Mobile, SingTel and others, failed to live up to Etisalat’s expectation.

Tagged with: Acquisition • ARPU • ASIA • Average Revenue Per User • China • China Mobile • Etisalat • Pakistan • PTCL • SingTel

Polish operator TP revenues down 8.8% in 2009

On 02.24.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 8.8% drop in the revenues has been reported by Polish incumbent operator Telekomunikacja Polska. The 4.4% decline has been attributed to regulatory decisions. Mobile revenues were down 10.2 percent to PLN 7.745 billion, with a decrease of 9 percent attributed to regulatory decisions.

16.5 percent drop in EBITDA has also been reported which ended at PLN 6.279 billion. Margin squeeze on the market and decreasing ARPU coupled by growing customer volumes and usage decreased the percentage points from 3.5 percentage points to 37.9 percent.

The EBITDA margin was also hit by cost inflation due to a weaker Polish zloty and rising costs of property and energy.

Tagged with: ARPU • EBITDA • Europe • PLN • Telekomunikacja Polska • USA

Canadian telco Telus records 45% drop in Q4 profits

On 02.15.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Fourth quarter 2009 financial results has been released by Canadian telecoms network operator, Telus Corp which showed a slight decrease of CA$11 million in the revenue. The fall reflects continued declines in traditional voice services, which offset growth in data and wireless revenues.

EBITDA decreased by 16 per cent because of higher restructuring costs from ongoing operating efficiency initiatives and higher defined benefit pension plan expenses.

Net income for the quarter also decreased from CA$253 million for the same period a year ago to CA$146 million. Wireless ARPU declined by 7.7% to $57.38 compared to the same quarter a year ago. Meanwhile, TELUS added 105,000 net new customer connections in the fourth quarter.

According to Darren Entwistle, TELUS president and CEO, there is no question that the last year was a challenging one economically, but also one where the company progressed game-changing capital projects and made significant investments in operational efficiency to improve the cost structure

Tagged with: ARPU • Canada • EBITDA • Net Income • North America • operator • Telus

Grameenphone adds 1.3 million subscribers (Bangladesh)

On 02.10.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an increase of 1.3 million in the number of subscription, a jerk in subscription growth has been faced by Bangladesh’s Grameenphone in the last quarter of 2009, pushing the total number of subscriptions over the 23 million subscription base.

According to Grameenphone CEO Oddvar Hesjedal, the SIM tax continues to be a significant bane for the industry and a barrier for tele-penetration in the country as subscriptions spiked each time the company opted to subsidize the tax, however, there is concern that with new entrants coming into the market there is possibility of greater competition ahead.

2.6% increase in the Q4 revenue was also recorded by the telco. Due to higher subscription acquisition costs, EBITDA margin in this quarter stood at 52.6% compared to 59.6% of the last quarter of 2008 and 57% of the third quarter of 2009. Because of reduced interconnect rate, ARPU in this quarter decreased from BDT 268 to BDT 244 in comparison with the last quarter of 2008.

Tagged with: Acquisition • ARPU • ASIA • Bangladesh • EBITDA • GrameenPhone

1.1 mln customers lost by Vodacom in December quarter

On 02.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With 9.5% increase last year, African mobile operator Vodacom’s mobile customer base reached 40.5 million. Due to the RICA rules in South Africa and a change in disconnection policy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vodacom lost a net 1.1 million customers versus September.

The decline was entirely due to prepaid losses, while the contract base grew by 190,000 to 4.349 million.

Quarterly revenues were up 6 percent year-on-year to ZAR 15.425 billion while the Vodafone subsidiary saw 7.5 percent annual growth in quarterly revenue. Traffic in South Africa was up 4.0 percent year-on-year and down 1.3 percent from the previous quarter to 6.655 billion minutes, while ARPU of ZAR 140 was stable year-on-year and up from ZAR 125 in the September quarter.

Tagged with: Africa • ARPU • Congo • Vodacom • Vodafone

DoCoMo’s Q3 profits soar 48%

On 02.01.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Due to the expiry of one-off write downs last year, 48% rise in the third-quarter fiscal profits has been reported by ¬Japan’s DoCoMo. Net income rose to 134.6 billion yen (US$1.5 billion) while operating profit recorded an increase of 28 percent to 217.4 billion yen in the quarter.

However, the revenue of the company declined 1.3 percent to 1.097 trillion yen (US$12 billion) and the total ARPU fell 4.5 percent to 5,470 yen as a fall in voice revenues failed to be offset by a smaller rise in data services. The year 2009 ended with 55.44 million mobile phone subscribers by the company.

According to DoCoMo President Ryuji Yamada, one of the main challenges facing the company now is how to increase the uptake of data services by mid- and light-user customers and the operators approach is to increase usability and offer services that seamlessly integrate with our customers’ lifestyles.

Tagged with: ARPU • ASIA • DoCoMo • Japan • North America • Operating Profit • operator • USA • Voice Revenues