Ncell net sales up by 44.9 per cent

KATHMANDU:

Ncell has posted strong growth in its income. Its parent company, TeliaSonera, today said that Nepal market’s net sales grew by 44.9 per cent to 1,130 million Swedish Kronor (SEK) equivalent to Rs 13.04 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2015. In the first quarter of 2014, Ncell had recorded net earnings of SEK 780 million. “Our operation in Nepal showed once again strong performance,” said Johan Dennelind, president and CEO of TeliaSonera in TeliaSonera Interim Report (January-March 2015). The report has stated that service revenues of Ncell grew 19.9 per cent (in local currency, excluding acquisition and disposals) with the support of strong billed revenue growth and larger subscription base. Under the Eurasia region of TeliaSonera, Ncell’s service revenue growth was highest followed by 13 per cent (Uzbekistan), 3.1 per cent (Moldova) and 1.4 per cent in Georgia. However, growth declined in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. The net sales of Ncell in the first quarter include SEK 624 million (Rs 7.2 billion) from services like voice, text and data and SEK 356 million (Rs 4.1 billion) from interconnection or mobile termination and SEK 25 million (Rs 288.5 million) from visitors’ roaming and others. By the end of the first quarter, Ncell’s total mobile service subscription stood at 10.8 million, including 10.4 million pre-paid users. In 2014, Ncell had posted growth of net sales by 18.85 per cent to SEK 3,023 million up from SEK 3,593 million of 2013. As per the first quarter report, the Swedish multi-national telecom company’s net sales increased by 8.8 per cent to SEK 26,041 million compared to SEK 23,926 million in the same period last year. Operating income, excluding non-recurring items, decreased by 12.6 per cent to SEK 5,496 million from SEK 6,286 million in the same quarter of last year.

Source: THT