MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--MegaFon, Russia's third-largest mobile phone company by subscribers, said its net profit for the first quarter of 2008 rose 51% on the year to 9.26 billion rubles ($396.7 million), as new users joined the network and longer-standing ones spent more time on calls
MegaFon, in which Nordic operator TeliaSonera has a 44% stake, said revenue grew to RUB37.79 billion from RUB29.34 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, rose slightly faster than revenue, to reach RUB18.89 billion, from RUB14.28 billion a year earlier.
The operator said it had 36.97 million subscribers at the end of March, a fifth more than a year earlier, with each user spending an average of RUB353 a month, up from RUB328 a year earlier.
Usage grew significantly faster than revenue per user, implying that MegaFon is earning less for each minute that its subscribers spend on calls.
The yield per minute - an indicator of how much the operator earns on calls - fell 14%.
One-fifth of mobile users in Russia are MegaFon subscribers, and although the company isn't listed, analysts look carefully at its results for trends that might affect listed rivals Vimpel Communications or Mobile TeleSystems (MTS).
Analysts have said that yields per minutes have also fallen at these operators, but the trend is less visible since the report is in dollars, a currency which has depreciated against the ruble over the last year and thus inflated earnings.
-By Will Bland, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 937 8445; william.bland@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Posted to the site on 30th June 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/32124.php