TeliaSonera sales slump on competition, shift to data

23 Apr 2013

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN: Swedish-Finnish telecom operator TeliaSonera on Friday reported a slight decline in first quarter profit and sales amid strong competition and falling revenue from traditional voice traffic and texting.

"Our industry continues to go through a period of change where traditional business models are being challenged by new customer behaviour," chief executive Per-Arne Blomquist said.

Net profit fell 0.3% to 4.108 billion kronor (482 million euros or $631 million) in the January to March period as revenue slumped 4.5% to 24.545 billion kronor.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected profit to come in at 4.23 billion kronor on revenue of 25.15 billion.

Sales in mobility services, which includes mobile voice and data traffic, fell 5.1% while broadband services, including traditional landlines, declined 8.3%.

However, Eurasia, comprising Russia, Turkey, six republics of the former Soviet Union and Nepal, was a bright spot, posting a 5.4% revenue gain.

The region "is crucial for the development of our business," Blomquist told Swedish news agency TT.

TeliaSonera said it would manage costs "in a prudent way", as it continued to implement cost cutting measures announced in the second half of last year that will see the group shed 2,000 employees, or 7% of its workforce.

Full-year guidance was unchanged, with revenue forecast to be flat on the year.

Blomquist replaced Lars Nyberg at the helm in February after an external review ordered by the company directed "serious criticism" at shortcomings in the company's Uzbekistan investment.

A corruption probe by the Swedish prosecution authority into the Uzbek deal was launched in September last year and is still ongoing.

On Thursday, TeliaSonera said it had commissioned a report from the law firm Norton Rose into all of its transactions in Eurasia. The findings will be submitted to the company at the end of this year.

Blomquist told TT the quarter had been "turbulent" but that the events "so far haven't affected our business."

Shares in TeliaSonera were down 1.91% in midday trading on the Stockholm bourse, where the main measure was 0.43% higher.

Source: AFP, via I-Net Bridge

Source: I-Net Bridge

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