Personal Records Net Profit of US$20.2mn in Q1

Personal, the mobile unit of Telecom Argentina, recorded net profits of 63mn pesos (US$20.2mn) in the first quarter of 2007 compared to a net loss of 6mn pesos in the same period last year, the company said in an earnings statement.

Revenues were 1.27bn pesos in the period, an increase of 45% compared to 1Q06.

"The growth in the mobile business is mainly attributed to a strong growth in the number of subscribers and the higher use of value added services," TEO's investor relations manager Pedro Insussarry said in a conference call with investors.

Personal, which also operates in Paraguay under the name Núcleo, saw its total client base grow 51% to end the period with 10.6mn compared to end-1Q06. Clients in Argentina totaled 9.31mn at end-1Q07, up 47% compared to the same time last year. Some 68% of users were prepaid clients and 91% of clients use Personal's GSM platform with the remainder using CDMA.

Núcleo reported 1.3mn subscribers at the end of 1Q07, an increase of 93% compared to end-1Q06.

Prepaid and postpaid clients represented 88% and 12%, respectively, while GSM subscribers represented 80% of Núcleo's subscriber base.

"We continue expanding our network in the south of the country [in Argentina] consistent with the commercial success Personal is achieving in that region and we are increasing capacity in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area and in the north," TEO's chairman Carlos Felices said.

The company invested US$94mn in the quarter, down 1% compared to the same period in 2006, mainly in the expansion of Personal's GSM network. Investment in Argentina totaled 80mn pesos while in Personal's Paraguayan unit the sum invested was 14mn pesos."

Posted to the site on 14th May 2007