Telecom operator Vimpelcom today said its Capex (capital spending) touched $4.2 billion in 2013.
The main investments were for rolling out mobile networks in Russia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the CIS.
The Capex/Revenue for 2013 was 19 percent, while Vimpelcom expects 2014 Capex, excluding licenses, to be approximately 21 percent of revenue.
In Q4 2013, Vimpelcom said its Capex increased 11 percent to $1.8 billion due to investments for future growth. It focused on HSPA+ and adding backbone capacity to support data growth in Italy in the fourth quarter.
Q4 2013
Vimpelcom, in which Russia’s Alfa Group and Norway’s Telenor are the biggest shareholders, said its fourth-quarter revenue fell 7 percent to $5.6 billion. The fourth-quarter loss of $2.7 billion is compared with $195 million profit in the same period last year.
Q4 revenue was negatively impacted by regulatory and governmental actions in the business unit Africa & Asia, MTR cuts and price competition in Italy, the ongoing limitations in Algeria, unstable macro situations in Pakistan and Bangladesh and market slowdown in some markets.
Total mobile customers increased by 4 percent to 220 million at the end of the fourth quarter. The customer base grew in all business units with the largest absolute contribution coming from a substantial increase in customers in Africa & Asia.
2013
Vimpelcom said its operating revenue in 2013 decreased organically by 2 percent to $22.5 billion. Revenue was impacted by regulatory and governmental measures, unstable macro environments and economic slowdown in some of its markets, as well as the MTR cuts and severe price competition in Italy.
