Telenor Pakistan

Telecommunications Online has a story on Telenor which mentions the Pakistan wing of the company as a distinguished achiever:

Like other European incumbents (see Broadband Boost For France Telecom), Telenor owes much of its current revenue growth to mobile acquisitions in emerging markets.

In Thailand, its DTAC business acquired 1.5 million new customers during the first quarter, while Malaysia’s DiGi signed up 471,000.

But both were outdone by Telenor Pakistan, which reported net additions of 2.4 million subscribers and witnessed revenue growth of 374 percent to NOK557 Million (US$92 Million).

“Telenor Pakistan is growing even faster than we expected,” says Baksaas. “They are increasing revenue per subscription thereby delivering breakeven on EBITDA.”

Less impressive were results in Bangladesh. Although first-quarter revenue rose to NOK1.054 Billion (US$175 Million) from NOK871 Million (US$144 Million) this time last year, ARPU dropped by 28 percent (as measured in local currency) and market share was down two points to 61 percent.