The mobile communications operator lifecell in January-September 2018 saw a rise of 76% in net loss year-over-year, to UH 570.5 million.
According to financial statements of the parent company Turkcell (Turkey) posted on its official website, lifecell’s revenue grew by 6.8%, to UAH 3.852 billion. The increase is linked to growth in profit from consumption of mobile Internet and expansion of data traffic, the company said.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 68.7%, to UAH 1.679 billion. EBITDA margin grew by 16 percentage points, to 43.6%.
Capital investment in January-September soared 3.38-fold, to UAH 3.099 million.
According to the report, revenue in June-September 2018 increased 9.1%, to UAH 1.367 billion.
In Q3 2018, the company’s net loss doubled, to UAH 185.6 million.
EBITDA grew by 64%, to UAH 610 million, and EBITDA margin – by 14.9 p.p., to 44.6%.
“The new IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) in the third quarter of 2018 had a positive impact in the amount of UAH 213 million on the company’s EBITDA,” the lifecell press service said.
Capital investments of the company during this period increased 2.46-fold, to UAH 576.8 million.
“lifecell continued to deploy 4.5G network in the third quarter, launching high-speed communication services in the 1800 MHz band on July 1, following the launch in the 2600 MHz band in March. Also, in accordance with the global strategy for developing digital services of Turkcell, the operator lifecell continues expanding the portfolio of digital services for its subscribers,” the Ukrainian subsidiary of Turkcell said.
In the third quarter of 2018, the active three month subscriber base of the lifecell operator decreased by 7.3% on an annual basis, to 7.6 million subscribers, which the company continues to explain by reducing the number of users of several SIM-cards.
Active three month ARPU (average revenue per user per month) in the third quarter of 2018 increased by 17.7% on an annual basis and amounted to UAH 59.3 compared to last year’s figure (UAH 50.4), which is associated with an increase in the consumption of data traffic, which increased by 156% per subscriber on an annual basis. At the same time, the indicator of the 12 month active MoU (minutes per user) grew by 13.7%, to 145.8 minutes.
The company also said that the three month active user base of high-speed Internet based on 3G and 4.5G exceeded 4.2 million subscribers at the end of the third quarter of 2018 and continues to grow. The penetration of smartphones in the operator’s network at the end of the third quarter was 73%.
