VimpelCom revenue shows tough market conditions during the first quarter of 2016.
First quarter revenue of VimpelCom was $2,023 million (–12 percent). VimpelCom generated $1,953 million (–14 percent) from mobile and fixed services and $301 million (+5 percent) from mobile data services.
The decline in revenue was primarily due to Forex fluctuations. VimpelCom revenue increased 4 percent organically.
VimpelCom generated $890 million (–17 percent) revenue from Russia, $710 million (–2 percent) from emerging markets and $436 million (–21 percent) from Eurasia.
VimpelCom has made an investment of $151 million (–28 percent) towards Capital (capital expenditure).
VimpelCom said Capex (including licenses) decreased 26 percent to $195 million in Q1 2016 due to currency depreciation and a $98 million reduction in network inventory and construction-in-progress.
The telecom operator said it will maintain its strategy of investing in high-speed data networks to capture mobile data growth, including the continued roll-out of 4G LTE networks in Russia and Italy and 3G networks in Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Ukraine.
VimpelCom had 194 million (195.1 million) mobile customers and 3.4 million (3.5 million) fixed-line broadband customers.
The company said its service revenue increased 3 percent organically, due to strong growth in mobile data revenue of 27 percent. Mobile customers decreased by 0.9 million to 194 million in Q1 2016, mainly due to the impact of regulation of the telecom industry in Pakistan, requiring operators to block unverified SIMs in Q2 2015.
VimpelCom CEO Jean-Yves Charlier said: “Our strategy to profoundly transform VimpelCom is firmly on course, particularly in the areas of cost base transformation, streamlining our portfolio, and greater globalization of our internal operations. VimpelCom remains on track to achieve its financial targets for the year.”
