Tele2 Russia's new strategy to be ready soon; aims to expand territory - Calmes
MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - The management of Tele2 Russia are working on a new company growth strategy whose main goal is to maintain current rates of growth, through expansion into new Russian regions among other measures, company head Jere Calmes told journalists at the Telecom 2013 forum organized by the business daily Vedomosti.
"The main thing is to retain our current strategy," Calmes said.
"We are the most efficient company on the market and we must remain the most efficient. As for growing the business, there are two vectors, concerning those regions where we are present and some kind of geographical expansion," he said.
In the first quarter this year, Tele2 remained the leader in revenue growth and increase in the subscriber base, he said.
"We plan to maintain our distinct market position, our advantage," he said.
The regional expansion may involve M&A deals, Calmes said, adding that he was not ready to go into specifics. "We continue to look for opportunities for regional expansion through mergers and acquisitions," he said. Management previously said the company was interested in various regional players, including Urals operator Motiv and SMARTS.
Calmes said Tele2's new strategy would be ready "in the near future," and added that the last step would be for the board of directors to give its approval.
A new board must be formed reflecting VTB's purchase of 100% of Tele2 Russia from Swedish Tele2 in April.
"Our new shareholder, our new partner, wants to develop our business," Calmes said. "Our challenge is naturally to grow faster and be a full-fledged player on this market. In those regions where we are present, we are developing fairly robustly. The entire focus is on quality communications at the lowest price," he said.
Tele2 Russia owns licenses to provide services on the GSM standard in 43 Russian regions with a total population of 62 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 18% in the first quarter of 2013 to 5.6 billion rubles. Operating revenue was up 13% to 15.4 billion rubles and the EBITDA margin increased to 36.4% from 34.9% previously.
Tele2 Russia's subscriber base increased 0.73% to 22.88 million people in the first quarter, according to data from market research firm AC&M. The company was the leader in adding new subscribers, accounting for 44% of all new contracts in Russia.
