UPDATE: Russia’s Tele2 IFRS net loss narrows 65% to 5.5 bln rbl in 2017

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MOSCOW, Mar 6 (PRIME) -- The net loss of Russian mobile operator T2 RTK Holding, working under the Tele2 brand, narrowed 64.6% on the year to 5.5 billion rubles in 2017, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Revenue rose 16.2% on the year to 123 billion rubles in 2017 thanks to higher income from data transmission as the company launched 4G networks and an upturn in subscription to bundle tariff plans. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) jumped 83.9% to 30.5 billion rubles.

The mobile operator’s subscriber base rose 1.6 million people in 2017 to 40.6 million subscribers as of the end of 2017. Average revenue per user (ARPU) went up 10.9% to 252 rubles.

“Financial and operating factors of the company show dynamic development of Tele2 in conditions of a stagnating market and confirm implementation of the goals that the shareholders had set. Tele2 will not race for growth of the subscriber base, but will focus on its structural improvement. By focusing on development of the major revenue diver – data transmission, we will secure and improve major indicators of profitability of our business,” the company said citing General Director Sergei Emdin

T2 RTK Holding refused to disclose IFRS results in 2016 not to provoke a negative backlash from other market players, but last week Emdin said that the company would resume disclosure of results starting from Tuesday although the report for 2017 would be incomplete.

(57.1000 rubles – U.S. $1)

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