TV growth provides bright spot for beleaguered Telia

Nordic and Baltic region telecom provider Telia said a strong TV performance in its Sweden contributed to overall growth in its domestic market in the third quarter.

Telia had 1.671 million TV customers at the end of the quarter, up 14,000 on the previous quarter and up 68,000 year-on-year.

The operator had 752,000 subscribers in the Swedish market, up 5,000 quarter-on-quarter and 489,000 in Finland, up 4,000. Telia’s Lithuanian subsidiary Teo had 226,000, up 4,000, while Estonia’s Eesti Telecom/Elion had 176,000, up 1,000. Danish TV subs were flat at 28,000.

TV ARPU in Sweden grew to SEK191 (€17.50), up from SEK170 at the same point last year. Finnish TV ARPU rose from €8.90 to €9.40 but suffered a dip quarter-on-quarter. Lithuanian, Estonian and Danish TV ARPU stood at €9.20, €8.40 and DKK353 (€47) respectively.

Telia broadband subscriptions across all territories amounted to  2.57 million.

Overall, Telia saw sales fall by 0.9% to SEK21.5 billion, while EBITDA fell by 1.6%. The company’s performance was hit by provisions related to its problems in Uzbekistan. The company faces a US$1.4 billion (€1.3 billion) fine imposed by Dutch and US authorities for corrupt practices in the country.