Our digitalisation journey continued in the first quarter of 2021 enabling us to add 5 million subscribers and yielding an opex decrease of 7%. Despite a decline in subscription and traffic revenues of 4%, this enabled us to deliver an organic EBITDA decline of 2% and a free cash flow ofNOK 3.8 billion . The Nordic operations delivered a robust quarter with EBITDA growth inFinland andDenmark . Despite the pandemic impacting our Asian operations over the last twelve months, we have been able to adapt and deliver strong customer intake across our operations. The recently announced merger discussions inMalaysia represents an important next step inTelenor Group's strategy to strengthen its position and create value inAsia . The new entity will have size and capabilities to meet increasing expectations and demand from a digitally connected society. InMyanmar , we see an irregular, uncertain, and deeply concerning situation. Since the military coup on1 February 2021 ,Telenor's focus has been on the safety and security of our employees, access to services for customers and continued transparency. Prolonged mobile internet restrictions have severely impacted the people ofMyanmar and the country's economy, illustrating the importance of connectivity services.Telenor calls on the authorities to immediately reinstate unimpeded communications and respect the right to freedom of expression and human rights. Due to the worsening of economic and business environment outlook and a deteriorating security and human rights situation, we see limited prospects of improvement going forward. Based on this, we have fully impaired Telenor Myanmar with an amount ofNOK 6.5 billion in the quarter. With limited visibility on the development in the country, we have excludedMyanmar from our outlook. For the full year 2021, excludingMyanmar , we re-iterate the expectation of organic subscription and traffic revenues and EBITDA to remain around the 2020 level and a capex to sales ratio of 15-16%. Investor Relations: Øystein Myrvold, mobile: +47 99230460Håkon Hatlevik , mobile: +47 90146070Kristine Devold , mobile: +47 90050780 Media contact: Tormod Sandstø, mobile: +47 90943215
Click here for more information
© Oslo Bors ASA, source