Telenor Group Capex (capital expenditure) increased 17.7 percent to $589 million (NOK 3.48 billion) in Q2 2013 against NOK 2.95 billion in Q2 2012.
The telecom Capex of Telenor was driven mainly by network investments in Norway and Asia, said Telenor on Tuesday.
Capital expenditure (excl. licenses) increased by NOK 1 billion as higher network and infrastructure investments in Pakistan, dtac, Norway and DiGi more than offset reduced investments in Grameenphone, Hungary and Denmark.
As a percentage of sales, Capex has increased to 14 percent in the second quarter from 12 percent in the first quarter of 2013.
For the full year 2013, Capex will be 12-14 percent of sales.
Meanwhile, Telenor’s Q2 revenue rose 2 percent to NOK 25.7 billion from NOK 25.35 billion. EBITDA before other items was NOK 8.86 billion, EBITDA margin was 34%, and operating cash flow was NOK 5.37 billion.
Profit increased to NOK 3.24 billion from NOK 2.06 billion.
“Telenor’s geographical footprint covers both advanced and growing economies, offering growth opportunities and profitability as demonstrated in the second quarter. At the same time, regulatory issues remain a challenge, particularly visible in Bangladesh and India during this period,’’ said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, president and CEO of Telenor Group.
During the second quarter, Telenor gained more than five million new customers driven by strong growth in Asia.
In Thailand, dtac’s network investments and high customer uptake is resulting in solid revenue growth as customers embrace new services enabled through 3G.
In Norway and Sweden, Telenow saw subscription growth picking up in the consumer segment as a result of new data centric offerings.
