TeliaSonera has r­eported that its 3rd quarter net sales increased by 4.1% to SEK 25,817 million (US$3.25 billion), while EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, increased to SEK 8,949 million (US$1.13 billion). Net income however fell to SEK 4,772 million (US$601 million) - down from the SEK 5,399 million (US$680 million) a year ago.

The number of subscriptions reached 127.9 million at the end of the third quarter with 1.2 million new subscriptions in the majority-owned operations and 3.8 million in the associated companies, compared to the end of the second quarter 2008.

Lars Nyberg, President and CEO said "Third quarter performance was good with growing sales and strong EBITDA, driven by Mobility Services and Eurasia. We successfully managed to protect margins in Mobility Services despite intense competition and regulatory intervention in the form of lower interconnect and roaming fees. Sales in Broadband Services were essentially flat in abso-lute terms, but there is a considerable change in the underlying product mix, which puts pressure on margins. Improving operational efficiency remains one of our top priorities."

"We are in a period of global financial turmoil and it is very difficult to project how long it will last. However, TeliaSonera has a strong balance sheet and operates in a relatively non-cyclical industry. Therefore, we see no immediate effects of changing customer be-havior in our operations. Regulatory intervention, intense competition and customer mi-gration remain the primary challenges. We continue investing in high quality networks and new services that improve the productivity and flexibility of our customers, and continue looking for new investment opportunities."

The group's outlook for 2008 remains unchanged.

Source:cellular-news