Telenor reported second quarter revenue growth of 17.5 per cent to NOK30.2 billion ($3.7 billion), citing a Thai turnaround, the greenfield performance of Myanmar and a solid contribution back home.

However, once the company’s headline revenue was adjusted for financial factors, including currency fluctuations, acquisitions and disposals, then organic growth was six per cent.

In its domestic market, Telenor reported revenue of NOK6.6 billion, a 1.5 per cent increase from its Q2 2014 performance, but overall performance was pulled down by its fixed operation. Mobile revenue grew by 6.5 per cent to NOK3.8 billion, thanks to growing data consumption.

Thai operator dtac reported a 27 per cent increase in revenue to NOK5.1 billion but, in local currency, the figure was flat as a lower subscriber base and ARPU was offset by increased handset sales. Subscription and traffic revenue in local currency declined by three per cent.

Myanmar
A clearer picture was evident in Myanmar where revenue grew from nothing a year ago to NOK1.14 billion in Q2 2015. The operator had 9.5 million subscribers at end-June, with 55 per cent defined as active data users. Second-quarter ARPU was NOK44. The operator is generating EBITDA before other items of NOK479 million, and is already profitable at the operating level to the tune of NOK374 million.

“In Myanmar, performance continues to exceed our expectations. In July we passed 10 million subscribers. Customers’ strong demand for voice and data services keeps driving revenue and profitability,” said outgoing Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas (pictured).

He reiterated the company’s guidance for 2015, which included organic revenue growth of 5-7 per cent, 34-36 per cent EBITDA margin and a capex/sales ratio of 17-19 per cent (including its satellite business).

Telenor’s net income was NOK4.5 billion in the quarter compared to NOK3.19 billion a year earlier. The company benefited from a NOK452 million profit from associated companies and joint ventures compared to a NOK563 million loss in 2014. It received net income in Q2 2015 of NOK503 million from its share of VimpelCom’s resultS for Q1 2015. And it reduced losses at its online classified joint ventures from NOK220 million to NOK64 million, through a merger with media group Naspers.