Lower income from Namibia and other international operations have caused Portugal Telecom (PT) to report poor first quarter (Q1) results.
PT’s operating revenue fell US$38 million, or four per cent, year-on-year, while the company also saw earnings fall to US$384 million as of the end of March from US$398 million in Q1 of 2013.
The company owns 34 per cent of Namibian-based Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), one of the two major operators in the country, which has seen also seen a decline in revenues.
The company attributed the decline in Namibian contributions to currency fluctuations as well as increased competition.
“In 1Q14, consolidated operating revenues decreased by EUR28 million to EUR690 million (US$947 million), reflecting primarily a revenue decline in the Portuguese telecommunications businesses and a lower contribution from international operations, namely MTC, due to negative currency effect, and Timor Telecom,” PT said.
However, the company said MTC’s voice revenues were up and data revenues were significantly higher than previous quarters.
MTC said last year the demand for 3G services was massive, leading to the company initiating an aggressive LTE push in the country.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
