The mobile communications operator lifecell in January-March 2019 increased net loss by 49.94%, to UAH 267.2 million compared with UAH 178.2 million in January-March 2018, according to the financial statement of the parent company, Turkcell (Turkey) posted on its official website. According to the report, the operator’s revenue in the first quarter increased 17.2%, to UAH 1.42 billion, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) – 61.5%, to UAH 815.5 million. At the same time, EBITDA margin increased 15.8 percentage points, to 57.6%.
Revenue of lifecell (Ukraine) grew by 17.2% year on year in 2019 in local currency, mainly thanks to increased revenues from mobile data transfer with an increase in 4.5G users and data users, the Turkcell said in the report.
The active subscriber base of lifecell for the first three months of 2019 decreased 10.4% compared with the first quarter of 2018 and amounted to 6.9 million users. At the same time, the average revenue per user (ARPU) of the active subscriber base increased 29.8%, to UAH 66.7.
Capital investments of the operator for the specified period amounted to UAH 357.8 million, which is 86.2% less than in the same period of 2018.
According to the report, the number of 4.5G users in the first quarter of 2019 was 36% of the total number of users of mobile data, and the penetration rate of smartphones by the end of March reached 77% (70% as of the end of the first quarter of 2018).
The lifecell operator is the third largest operator of mobile communications in Ukraine.