BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 16
Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Georgian mobile operator Silknet’s revenue to increase at a low single-digit in 2021, considering subdued economic recovery, Trend reports via the Galt & Taggart investment company.
"We forecast, mobile data to remain the driving force of Silknet’s revenue generation, as per user usage of data will gradually increase from 5.3 GB/month in 2020 to 5.8 GB/month and 6.2 GB/month in 2021 and 2022, respectively, in our view. Overall, we forecast mobile revenues to increase 3.3 percent year-on-year in 2021 (vs. 0.1 percent year-on-year decline in 2020) driven by higher mobile data revenues and gradual revival in other mobile income," the report said.
Fixed segment (fixed broadband, pay-TV, fixed voice) is expected to continue growth in 2021, with fixed broadband revenues expected to increase by 4.5 percent year-on-year in 2021 (vs.3.2 percent year-on-year growth in 2020), pay-TV revenues are forecasted to increase by 6.4 percent in 2021 (vs. 6.3 percent year-on-year growth in 2020), while fixed voice revenues are expected to decline 12 percent in 2021.
Overall, commercial revenue is forecasted to increase by 3.4 percent year-on-year to 359.3 million lari ($104.6 million) in 2021, while carrier service revenue is expected to decline.
In November 2020 Silknet launched Georgian Depositary Notes, which are linked to $200 million Eurobonds. The issuance of the notes, with a $1,000 denomination, is aimed to increase local demand on Eurobonds, by removing the barriers (minimum investment $200,000), which make a purchase of Eurobonds unaffordable for many Georgians.
After the hike in Silknet Eurobond yield in March-2020, yields started to decline, in line with other Georgian Eurobonds and broad financial markets.
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