Revenue and earnings up as Telia Lietuva drives product improvements

Telia Lietuva issued its third quarter results for to 30 September on Friday, reporting a 6.7% improvement in total revenue to €96.4m (£84.7m).

The Lithuanian telecoms provider said EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, was €33.9m - an increase of 3.2% over the restated EBITDA for the third quarter of last year, excluding non-recurring items.

Profit for the period was €16m, up 10.9% year-on-year.

Looking at the first nine months of the 2018 financial year, total revenue was €279.7m, up 3.6%, while EBITDA excluding non-recurring items rose 5.9% to €95.7m.

Profit for the first three quarters was €41.2m, up 14.8%, while free cash flow rose to €32m from €31.3m.

“During the third quarter we closed one chapter of pay television history in Lithuania – terminating [the] provision of digital terrestrial television to our customers, and lifted it up to another level by offering award winning HBO content on our IPTV platform,” the Telia Lietuva board said in its statement.

“[The] successful launch of converged IPTV over LTE service in June … was a bridge for smooth transition from outdated terrestrial television rebroadcasting to interactive and modern IPTV experience even in remote and rural areas.”

Telia Lietuva said another change that occurred in August was the facelift of its pre-paid mobile communication service brand ‘Ežys’, and the simplification of pre-paid payment plans to suit the real needs of customers, by offering only the services that were required.

“As a result, we stopped the decline in number of pre-paid service users that we had experienced during the last years.

“Cooperation of three major telecommunications operators in Lithuania is finally bearing fruit – the beta version of the instant mobile payment platform MoQ created by Bite Lietuva, Tele2 and Telia Lietuva was successfully launched in August,” the board added.

It said more than 30,000 customers had already downloaded the application, and could use it for instant settlements at more than 700 locations including shops, cafés and gas stations, and at a “majority” of online retailers in the country.

“Innovative converged solutions such as hybrid-type Internet and IPTV over LTE together with super VDSL (S-VDSL) not only prevent the churn of customers of outdated technologies, but provide the customers with the modern experience and broader possibilities.

“Almost 25,000 of our customers are already enjoying higher speed, more data and more television content by taking an advantage of unique on the market converged offer ‘Telia One’.

The board said that, in spite of “tough competition”, over the last 12 months the firm had managed to increase the number of its customers, with IPTV users rising 11.3%, post-paid service users growing by 5.9%, and fibre-to-the-home internet customers up 5.4%.

It added that in general, the third quarter was the best in 2018 in terms of both revenue and profitability, with revenue from equipment sales over the year growing 18%, while revenue from mobile services was up 12.3% and revenue from television services increasing 10.1%.

“We continue to invest into expansion of fiber-optic and 4G networks to ensure connectivity and high speed of data transmission all over the country,” the board explained.

“During the [first] nine months of 2018, in total €33.1m or 28.8% more than a year ago was invested into mobile and fixed networks.”

The company said it had already started preparations for the 5G era.

“On 3 October, Lithuania joined [the] European Commission's ‘Diversity Charter’ initiative.

“Following a sustainable development strategy, Telia Lietuva was one of almost 30 Lithuanian companies that signed the charter.

“By signing the Charter Telia Lietuva commits to promote diversity and equal opportunities at the workplace.”