PJSC Ukrtelecom reduced EBITDA by 6.1% in January-March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, to UAH 400 million, according to a press release released by the operator.
EBITDA margin for that period decreased by 0.5 percentage points (p.p.), to 25.5%, and net income by 5%, to UAH 1.6 billion.
Ukrtelecom said that the key positive factor influencing the company’s income is a steady increase in receipts from the provision of Internet services and data transfer.
“The revenues increased by 7%, to UAH 521 million in the first quarter of 2020 compared to last year. At the same time, the average traffic consumption by one Ukrtelecom home Internet subscriber grew by 25%, to almost 117 GB, and among users of optics to 235 GB, which is to some extent due to quarantine measures introduced in March,” the operator said in a statement.
In general, the income from telecommunications services of Ukrtelecom decreased by 7% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to UAH 1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019.
According to the operator, that was significantly affected by a decrease in revenue from fixed telephony, which is a global tendency for voice services. Ukrtelecom revenue from the provision of this service in that period amounted to UAH 574 million, which is 20.9% less than in January-March 2019. The company also told Interfax-Ukraine that compared with the same period in 2019, the receivables of the government to the operator for providing services to privileged categories of the population increased by 8%, to UAH 144 million.
Capital investments amounted to UAH 112 million for the first quarter of 2020.
“Strictly observing measures to prevent the spread of [coronavirus] COVID-19 in Ukraine, Ukrtelecom continues to implement a number of projects to develop an optical infrastructure that can reduce the digital divide in the country. The operator is expanding the geography of optics by connecting small towns and social facilities to the high-speed Internet,” the operator said.
In the first three months of 2020, Ukrtelecom laid almost 1,400 kilometers of fiber-optic cable and connected to the optical Internet about 100 medical and educational institutions, as well as 39 merged territorial communities. The Internet access network of Ukrtelecom covered 2,430 cities and villages of Ukraine for the first quarter of 2020.
Revenues from the commercial lease of property, which is not involved in production, increased by 24% compared to the first quarter of 2019 and amounted to UAH 87.5 million. Ukrtelecom transferred UAH 478 million in taxes to budgets of all levels in January-March of 2020. The company refused to disclose the net financial result for the first quarter.
