Millicom saw revenue slump 2 per cent in Q3 as “emerging market currency volatility intensified”, but CEO Mauricio Ramos remained buoyant about the company’s overall performance, citing strong organic revenue growth.

Headline figures saw the company’s revenue stand at $1.64 billion, down from $1.68 billion from Q3 last year, with currency movements in both LatAm and Africa taking toll. Profit for the quarter was $12 million, down from $165 million, impacted by non-operating expenses and losses from associates and joint ventures.

Organic revenue growth, excluding the impact of exchange rates and its recently acquired UNE business in Colombia, was more healthy at 7.2 per cent, with EBITDA increasing 2.1 per cent to $560 million from $549 million.

Its operations in LatAm saw a reported revenue decline of 1.4 per cent, to $1.4 billion, with “lower growth from mobile handsets in Colombia” another reason cited for the decline alongside the currency issues.

In Africa, reported revenue fell 5.3 per cent to $241 million.

Ramos said that despite the company experiencing currency devaluations in key markets of Colombia, Paraguay and Tanzania, it “made some solid progress in converting our potential into profitable growth”.

The executive further highlighted the company’s performance in Colombia, where it acquired cable operator UNE in summer 2014, describing them as “mixed results”.

He said the UNE business accelerated its revenue growth based on higher average revenue per line, while its Tigo mobile business “continued to see a more challenging environment”.

Millicom, which is aiming to build up its cable presence in the emerging markets while leveraging its mobile business, talked up its subscriber growth, with Q3 marking the company reaching 60 million mobile customers, while its cable offering now reaches 7.5 million homes.

On an organic basis, group mobile revenue increased by 2.9 per cent to $1.08 billion, with its cable revenue up 25.2 per cent to $388 million.

Alongside its Q3 results, Millicom also flagged in a statement that it had reported potential improper payments made on behalf of its joint venture in Guatemala to US and Swedish law enforcement authorities.

The company said it is “fully committed to fully cooperating with authorities”, adding “it is not possible at this time to predict the matter’s likely duration or outcome”.