Asian operators SmarTone and Sri Lanka Telecom both yesterday published financial results showing significant profit gains.
Hong Kong's SmarTone said it nearly tripled its December-half profit to HK$321 million ($41.2 million), from HK$111 million the year before, on strong service revenue and device sales growth.
Revenue grew 52% to HK$2.75 billion. Service revenue grew 29% to HK$2.1 billion, while device sales increased 307% to HK$614 million.
The company's Hong Kong customer base grew 17%, despite what the company called “a very competitive market.” Blended ARPU from the region grew 12% to HK$241.
SmarTone's Macau operations swung to an operating profit of HK$16 million, from a loss of $19 million in the same period a year ago. Revenue grew 18%, but ebitda fell 32% on rising operating expenses.
Sri Lanka Telecom yesterday revealed it had grown its 2010 profit 407% to 3.94 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($35.6 million).
Group revenue grew to a record 50.25 billion rupees, thanks largely to the performance of mobile arm Mobitel.
Parent company SLT saw its revenue fall slightly to $33.3 billion, but still managed a 101% growth in net profit as a result of cost-cutting and restructuring. Ebitda margins stayed flat at 30%.
The group also swung to a positive free cash flow of 8.8 billion rupees, from a 2 billion rupee deficit in 2009.