Telenor today announced an increase in revenue, drop in EBITDA, cut in Opex, and increase in Capex during the first quarter of 2019.
Telenor said its revenue increased 2 percent to NOK 27.7 billion. Telenor achieved double digit revenue growth in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Telenor has generated 38 percent of the total revenue from Scandinavia, 24 percent from Emerging Asia, 31 percent from Developed Asia and the balance 7 percent Other locations.

Capex

Telenor Capex excluding licenses and spectrum increased to NOK 4.043 billion in Q1 2019 vs NOK 3.068 billion in Q1 2018. Telenor’s total Capex including spectrum dropped to NOK 4.043 billion from NOK 4.687 billion. Telenor achieved Capex to sales ratio of 15 percent, one of the lowest in the global telecom industry.

Telenor said its Capex excluding licences and spectrum is expected to be NOK 16-17 billion, including the operation in Thailand.

Telenor said it is on track for achieving 60,000 new fibre connections in 2019. It achieved 20 percent growth in fibre revenues. Telenor Norway’s fiber connections reached 244K in Q1 2019 as compared with 232K in Q4 2018 vs 218K in Q3 2018 vs 209K in Q2 2018.

Telenor’s Capex reached NOK 979 million in Norway, NOK 310 million in Sweden, NOK 70 million in Denmark, NOK 1183 million in Thailand, NOK 356 million in Malaysia, NOK 425 million in Grameenphone Bangladesh, NOK 386 million in Pakistan and NOK 204 million in Myanmar.

Opex

Opex of Telenor decreased 1 percent to NOK 9.7 billion. The 1 percent reduction in Opex was driven by efficiency improvements driven by Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke.

Telenor achieved Opex reduction of NOK 72 million in Salaries and Personnel and NOK 44 million in Sales, Marketing and Commissions and NOK 109 million in other Opex areas in the first quarter. Telenor’s Opex rose by NOK 6 million in operation and maintenance, NOK 101 million in energy and NOK 7 million in site rental.

Telenor’s EBITDA fell 3.5 percent to NOK 11.175 billion.

Mobile subscribers

Telenor added 1.163 million mobile phone customers during the first quarter as compared with drop of 804K mobile phone connections in Q4 2018 and dip of 1.047 million in Q3 2018 and addition of 147K in Q2 2018. Telenor said the addition in Q1 2019 was the strongest subscriber growth since Q2 2016.

Telenor’s mobile phone subscriber base reached 2.924 million in Norway, 2.728 million in Sweden, 1.671 million in Denmark, 20.726 million in Thailand, 11.251 million in Malaysia, 74.053 million in Bangladesh, 44.258 million in Pakistan and 18.395 million in Myanmar.

Telenor launched its B2B fleet tracking solution in Pakistan and introduced IoT solutions in Bangladesh with partners, both for B2C and B2B.

Baburajan K