Telenor profits fall
May 5, 2009
Norwegian teleco Telenor has reported a 65 per cent decline in first quarter net profits compared with a year earlier, hurt largely by its stake in Russian mobile operator VimpelCom. The group said net profit for the January through March period was 1.62 billion kroner ($248m) compared to 4.57 billion kroner a year earlier. Revenues rose to 27.1 billion kroner from 26.38 billion kroner. “The business environment continues to be turbulent and we now experience some impact on the telecom sector, in particular influencing international traffic. However, the total traffic volumes are relatively stable,” said Telenor’s president and chief executive, Jon Fredrik Baksaas.