Telenor Pakistan posted its revenues of Rs. 25.95 billion during first quarter of 2016, up by 9% from same quarter of previous year.
Growth in revenues is said to be supported by continued growth in financial services, higher incoming international traffic, higher ARPU and mainly due to one-time record correction in previous year’s figures.
Growth in incoming international traffic contributed with 6 percentage points of the reported growth.
ARPU in local currency increased by 11% to reach Rs. 206 per user per month, up from Rs. 185 per user per month during same period last year.
This growth in ARPU is primarily due to the disconnection of unverified SIM cards, high growth in data usage and increased incoming international traffic.
Telenor said that its subscription and traffic revenues in local currency increased by 2%.
The EBITDA margin decreased by 2 percentage points, primarily explained by the positive one-time effect from reversal of accruals last year. In addition, the abolishment of the SIM activation tax from
1 July 2015 has a positive impact on the EBITDA margin.
Capital expenditure was prioritized towards expanding 3G network coverage and capacity. At the end of the quarter, the 3G population coverage was 55%.
The number of subscriptions increased by 2.2 million during the quarter. The subscription base is now back at par with first quarter last year, despite having disconnected unverified SIM cards in the second quarter of 2015.
During the quarter Telenor purchased the remaining 49% stake in Tameer Microfinance Bank, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
