Telecom Lead India: Uninor announced that Uttar Pradesh East has become its first circle to achieve break-even.
The EBITDA break-even means the company’s operations in UP East are now profitable, with revenues being higher than operating costs. This is the fastest break-even by any mobile operator in any circle in India, and the milestone has been achieved ahead of the stated target of break-even in the calendar year 2013.
In the six circles where fresh spectrum has been secured, Uninor serves over 30 million subscribers. At the time of achieving break-even, Uninor in UP East serves over 7.2 million customers. Uninor incurs a cost of 18 paisa per minute, the lowest among all operators in the circle. Its spectrum usage efficiency is 40 percent higher than all others.
“This is the latest in several major achievements, and of course, among the most crucial of all. I extend our gratitude to the millions of subscribers in India that have chosen Uninor over others. I am delighted to celebrate the first break-even circle in India – an achievement that starts the countdown towards a profitable Uninor,” said Jon-Fredrik Baksaas, president and CEO of the Telenor Group.
Telenor Group has secured 5 MHz spectrum UP East, UP West, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra in the recently concluded auctions. This allows Uninor operations to continue seamlessly in the new company for a period of 20 years.
“What makes this remarkable yet is that we are now profitable while offering highly competitive tariffs and managed to keep a strong market focus while operating in an extremely challenging business and regulatory environment over the past year. I credit this achievement to the choice our customers, employees and business partners are making every day,” said Sigve Brekke, MD of Uninor and Head of Telenor Asia.
Telenor Group expects its remaining circles to begin achieving the break-even targets in the months to come.
