Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Oct.25
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The net revenues of COSCOM mobile operator increased by 15.4 percent in Jan.-Sept. 2014, compared to the same period of 2013, and totaled 2.65 billion SEK (nearly $364.9 million), a report from TeliaSonera said.
COSCOM is a subsidiary of Scandinavian TeliaSonera in Uzbekistan and operates under the Ucell trademark.
Minutes of Use (MOU) per subscriber per month stood at 330 in the Q3 of 2014.
The report said that the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 13.4 percent as of nine months of 2014 and totaled 1.449 billion SEK ($199.6 million).
Margin transactions stood at 54.7 percent, compared to 55.6 percent in the same period of 2013.
The subscriber base of Ucell dropped by 1.4 percent and stood at 8.435 million subscribers during the reporting period.
FE COSCOM LLC was founded in 1996. In July 2007, Fintur Holdings B.V., controlled by TeliaSonera, acquired 100 percent of the assets of the US MCT Corp, which owned stakes in COSCOM.
Starting from June 2008, the operator began providing mobile services in Uzbekistan under the brand name Ucell, working under the GSM-900-1800 standard. In February 2009, Ucell launched 3G for commercial operations, and in July 2010 - the network of the fourth generation (4G) in Tashkent based on LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology.
Currently, TeliaSonera owns 94 percent of the shares of the operator, while Uzbek minor shareholders hold six percent.
Currently, four companies operate in the market of mobile communication services: Unitel LLC (Beeline trademark), FE COSCOM LLC, FE RWC LLC (TM Perfectum Mobile) and Uzmobile branch of Uzbektelecom JSC.
The market share of the participants for the volume of rendered services as of Jan.1 2013 is as follows: Beeline - 54 percent, Ucell - 41 percent, those operating under CDMA standard - Rubicon Wireless Communications JV (RWC, Perfectum Mobile trademark) - three percent and Uzbektelekom Mobile, branch of Uzbektelecom JSC - one percent.