Mobile services and sales in Eurasia were the chief drivers for third quarter sales of Telia Sonera. The operator has reported that net sales for the quarter increased 4.1 percent on hte previous year to SEK 25,817 million. Net sales for the first nine months are up 5.7% and the operator's outlook for teh rest of the year remains unchanged.
The operator also announced that the number of subscriptions reached 127.9 million at the end of the third
quarter with 1.2 million new subscriptions in the majority-owned operations and 3.8 million in the associated companies, compared to the end of the second quarter 2008.
Lars Nyberg, President and CEO, said, “Third quarter performance was good with growing sales and strong EBITDA, driven by Mobility Services and Eurasia. We successfully managed to protect margins in Mobility Services despite intense competition and regulatory intervention in the form of lower interconnect and roaming fees. Sales in Broadband Services were essentially flat in absolute terms, but there is a considerable change in the underlying product mix, which puts pressure on margins. Improving operational efficiency remains one of our top priorities.
" top priority is to grow our business in fast-growing and profitable markets. In October 2008 we took a further important step by entering two new high-growth emerging markets, Nepal and Cambodia.
"We are in a period of global financial turmoil and it is very difficult to project how long it will last. However, TeliaSonera has a strong balance sheet and operates in a relatively non-cyclical industry. Therefore, we see no immediate effects of changing customer behavior in our operations. Regulatory intervention, intense competition and customer migration remain the primary challenges. We continue investing in high quality networks and new services that improve the productivity and flexibility of our customers, and continue looking for new investment opportunities.”