Uninor Adds 1.3 Million Subscribers in Q2, Narrows Operating Loss

Mobile service provider Uninor on Wednesday said its operating loss has narrowed down to NOK 90 million (roughly Rs. 70.30 crores) in the second quarter ended June 30.The firm, controlled by Norwegian telco Telenor, had reported an operating loss of NOK 170 million (roughly Rs. 132.91 crores) in the same period last year.

The company follows January-December financial year. However, Uninor reported a positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) in the second quarter of the current fiscal on increased revenues and improved gross margin following mobile termination rate cut.

“This quarter the company registered a positive EBITDA of Rs. 18.8 crores,” Uninor said in a statement.

Total revenues of the company rose to NOK 1,362 million (roughly Rs. 1,064.63 crores) for the reported period compared with NOK 1,021 million (roughly Rs. 798.05 crores) last year.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) declined 12 percent to Rs. 95 in the reported period as against last year.

“The decline was primarily driven by lower voice consumption and the impact from reduced mobile termination rate, partly compensated by increased data usage,” Uninor said.

Uninor added 1.3 million subscribers during the quarter. The subscription base was 22 percent higher than the same quarter last year. The company said 26 percent of the customers were active data users.

“Our Internet awareness campaigns and initiatives to bring mobile Internet services to the unconnected are yielding good results. We are in the right direction to achieve our target of 50 percent Internet customers by 2017,” Uninor CEO Vivek Sood said.

The company made a capital expenditure of NOK 253 million (roughly Rs. 197.95 crores) in the reported period mainly related to capacity expansion to cater to increased traffic volumes.

The company offers services in six circles – UP (West), UP (East), Bihar (including Jharkhand), Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.