Norway’s Telenor has beaten market expectations with a 14% rise in Q3 ebitda to €1.02 billion.
During the quarter the operator added 4 million mobile subs, reaching 172 million across the Nordic states, eastern Europe and in emerging Asia, where it is the second-largest foreign operator behind Vodafone.
“We expect that our focus on cost control and improved efficiency will enable us to deliver a slightly stronger ebitda margin and lower investments than originally anticipated for 2009,” Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas said.
The carrier increased its full year 2009 ebitda margin guidance by one point to 35%. It reduced its estimate for capital expenditure to 13% of net revenues from earlier guidance of 13%-15%
The company said its Nordic operations were on track to deliver on a 10 billion crown cash-flow target, while its Pakistan unit showed good progress towards reaching cash flow break-even in 2010 and its Bangladeshi arm delivered “very strong” results.
The carrier said that its new Indian JV, Unitech Wireless, was on track to launch services in the fourth quarter.
Earlier this month Telenor agreed to end years of legal wrangles with the Alfa Group, its partner in Russia and Ukraine, and to merge its operations in the two states in a new company headquartered in the Netherlands.