Telia Lietuva : posts record high EBITDA with thousands of new customers and IT services boom

The revenue of Telia Lietuva, a Lithuanian telecommunications market leader, remained record high in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period last year and reached EUR 100.2 million. The Company's EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, jumped 6.3 percent to EUR 35.5 million. This was the highest quarterly EBITDA since the business convergence in early 2017. The profit in third quarter of this year rose by 14.9 percent and amounted to EUR 15.1 million.

During the nine months of this year, Telia Lietuva sales increased by 2.9 percent to EUR 289.5 million. EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, for the three quarters like for like increased by 5.6 percent and reached EUR 101.8 million, while the Company's profit increased by 3.3 percent and amounted to EUR 39 million. Free cash flow of the Company leaped by 34.6 percent to EUR 63.9 million during the same period.

'The global lockdown has confirmed that our strategic direction - customer focus, digitalization and quality - is right and will be further developed. Tens of thousands of new residential customers, strong growth in demand for cloud and data center solutions, and our network leadership have provided a strong growth momentum. Along with business efficiency, we will strive to maintain it by utilizing our greatest strengths - the added value of Telia1 offer to people and leadership in preparing for the implementation of 5G technology in Lithuania', says Dan Strömberg, CEO of Telia Lietuva. Since August, he is also the Head of cluster Lithuania, Estonia and Denmark (LED) in Telia Company.

New IT solution contracts with private companies and public organizations resulted in a nine-month revenue increase from IT services by more than a fifth, or 21.8 percent. Despite significantly less live sports broadcasts during the quarantine, revenue from TV services also grew in double digits - by 15.4 percent. Comparable revenue from mobile services (excluding mobile phone insurance costs) climbed by 4.7 percent over the year.

From July to September, compared to the same period last year, the number of prepaid mobile subscribers soared by 19 thousand, and the number of postpaid customers grew by 10 thousand. The number of broadband internet ant TV services users increased by 2 thousand each.

The number of households that took advantage of converged offer Telia1 exceeded 70 thousand and increased by a third over the year. By combining fixed and mobile services, Telia1 provides additional values for clients - higher speed, more data, and more TV content.

Continuous investments in fixed and mobile networks have also maintained the leadership of the mobile network: according to the latest measurements by the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), the average speed of 4G connection in Telia Lietuva network remains the highest in Lithuania and reaches 83.3 Mbps.

Total investments in the modernization of the network amounted to EUR 37.3 million during the first nine months of this year. The largest share, EUR 26.1 million, was allocated for the renewal of the core network and the development of the fiber and mobile networks. Telia Lietuva invests over EUR 50 million in Lithuania every year and is one of the largest investors in the country.