Telenor described mobile subscriptions and traffic revenue growth as “healthy” in Q1 2016, but total revenue was hit by lower handset sales as well as a weaker performance from its legacy fixed products.

Total revenue was NOK33 billion ($4 billion) in Q1 2016, a five per cent increase from NOK31.4 billion in the year ago period. On an organic basis, revenue rose by 1.5 per cent.

Net income was NOK5.1 billion in the first quarter, up from NOK4.8 billion.

Mobile subscription and traffic revenue rose by six per cent year-on-year, on an organic basis.

“We connected more than five million new customers as we continue to improve our network and service quality across our footprint,” said Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke.

Looking at individual markets, Grameenphone in Bangladesh saw revenue growth of nine per cent, with Telenor Pakistan delivering a similar growth. Recent entrant Telenor Myanmar more than doubled its revenue from the year ago period and was cash-flow positive.

In contrast, the group saw revenue fall by four per cent in its home market, dragged down by lower fixed revenue, as well as a fall in mobile interconnect rates and lower handset sales.

The group actually added 5.4 million new customers, of which 2.2 million were in Pakistan, 1.8 million in Myanmar and 1.5 million in India.  Telenor now has a total of 208 million customers, of which about 40 per cent are active internet users.

The company maintained its 2016 outlook, which includes organic revenue growth of between 2 per cent and 4 per cent, compared with its Q1 performance of 1.5 per cent.