NII Holdings Profits Grow 50% in Q2

US digital trunking holding company NII Holdings' saw profits up 50% in the second quarter this year to US$84mn from US$56mn in 2Q06, the company said in a statement.

NII, which operates under the Nextel brand, reported revenues of US$786mn 2Q07, a 41% increase compared to US$556mn in the year-ago period.

Consolidated operating income before depreciation and amortization (Oibda) rose 33% to US$207mn from US$155mn in 2Q06 on increased revenues and strong subscriber gains, company COO and president Lo van Gemert said during NII's earnings conference with analysts.

NII logged 331,000 subscriber net additions in its push-to-talk technology (PTT) across its operations in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile to end the quarter with 4.06mn, up 39% from 2.92mn at end-2Q06.

The company's bedrock operation in Mexico saw revenues hit US$433mn, a 38% increase compared to US$313mn in the same period last year. Subscribers ended the 2Q07 at 1.85mn, up 42% year-on-year from 1.3mn.

Mexico has seen large investments over the last year as the company expands its presence in the country, launching in new cities. However, company CEO Steve Shindler said during the conference call that the Mexico expansion has come to end, allowing the company to focus on expanding its infrastructure in other markets.

Brazil posted revenues of US$201mn for 2Q07, up 59% compared to US$126mn in the same period last year. Subscribers totaled 1.08mn at the end of Q2, a 42% increase from 757,000 at the same time last year.

The company's Argentina operations saw revenues of US$106mn in the quarter and ended the period with 726,000 subscribers. Peruvian operations amounted revenues of US$45.6mn and 399,000 subscribers.

NII, only launched operations in Chile in December last year after winning a six-year court battle with local mobile operators, which had blocked its attempts to introduce its PTT business model.

Due to the subscriber growth regionwide NII upgraded some of its forecasts for 2007, increasing its Oibda to US$915mn from US$900mn."

Posted to the site on 27th July 2007