OREANDA-NEWS. On 19 July 2016, the Board of TEO LT, AB (hereinafter – “Teo” or “the Company”) approved unaudited TEO LT, AB Consolidated Interim Financial Statements, prepared according to International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union, and Consolidated Interim Report for the six months period ended 30 June 2016.

Another successful quarter of Teo and Omnitel operating together

Second quarter of 2016:
- Total consolidated revenue amounted to EUR 84.2 million, up by 3.6 per cent over the comparable combined revenue of EUR 81.2 million in Q2 2015.
- Consolidated EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, reached EUR 29.1 million, up by 11.1 per cent over comparable combined EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, of EUR 26.2 million in Q2 2015.

First half of 2016:
- Total consolidated revenue amounted to EUR 166.7 million, up by 2.8 per cent over the comparable combined revenue of EUR 162.1 million in H1 2015.
- Consolidated EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, reached EUR 58.3 million, up by 11 per cent over comparable combined EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, of EUR 52.6 million in H1 2015.
- Free cash flow amounted to EUR 20.8 million and was by 1.4 times higher than a year ago.

Management comment:
The synergy of Teo and Omnitel operating together is giving positive results: with the intake of new broadband Internet, IPTV and post-paid mobile communication customers, and growing mobile data usage, revenues continue to grow, operating expenses are under control and profitability of operations is increasing.

With the number of broadband Internet customers reaching almost 400 thousand, revenue from fixed services during the first half of 2016 increased by 3.3 per cent and revenue from mobile services went up by 10.1 per cent, driven by the persistently growing appetite for mobile data (more than 1.5 times growth) not only domestically but also while travelling abroad with the “roam like at home” offer in the Nordic countries and a special Internet offer for the U.S.A.

Omnitel completed the installation and launch of 300 new 4G LTE base stations, and now has nearly 1,000 4G base stations across Lithuania. It has been officially confirmed by the Communications Regulatory Authority that Omnitel is the first to cover the entire populated territory of the country with 4G connectivity – namely, 97 per cent. This means that the fastest 4G mobile Internet is currently available to nearly 100 per cent of the population in Lithuania. According to this indicator, Lithuania is among the world leaders.

In addition, in June the speed of 4G LTE technology in Vilnius and the surrounding areas was increased by 30 per cent, and by the end of June this was rolled out across Lithuania (with the exception of major cities, where the 4G speed will be increased during the summer in each city individually). According to the latest data of the Communications Regulatory Authority, the average 4G speed in the Omnitel network amounts to 36 Mb/s.

During the first half of 2016, investments into the development of the mobile network amounted to EUR 7.2 million (compared to EUR 3.3 million a year ago), while the total combined investments stood at EUR 23.5 million, up by 31.3 per cent over the comparable combined investments of EUR 17.9 million a year ago.

During the second quarter of 2016, the last remaining analogue fixed telephone lines in remote areas were connected to digital exchanges and Teo fully digitalised its fixed telephony network. Teo also optimised its DVB-T rebroadcasting by increasing the capacity of its own DVB-T network by 30 per cent, using 2 instead of 3 networks for rebroadcasting of digital terrestrial TV programs as of the 1st of July 2016.

Teo and Omnitel entered into the largest Internet of Things (IoT) project in Lithuania – to ensure smart electricity metering data transmission and management services for business customers of Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius (ESO). Omnitel will provide ESO with up to 80 thousand SIM cards adapted for the IoT.

The legal merger of Omnitel and the Baltic Data Center (BDC) with Teo is on track and in progress: following Teo shareholders’ approval to go ahead with reorganisation, Omnitel and BDC changed their legal status from closed joint-stock (UAB) into joint-stock (AB) companies, and the Boards of Teo, Omnitel and BDC have approved the merger terms.