The results are based on continuing operations and exclude the SEK 1.8 billion capital gain realised on the sale of Tele2 Norway. Tele2 also started a 'challenger' programme in Q4 with the aim of increasing productivity and saving SEK 1 billion annually by 2018. This resulted in SEK 14 million in restructuring costs in Q1 and led to a 27 percent fall in EBIT to SEK 702 million.

EBITDA increased 5 percent (or 2 percent excl forex) to SEK 1.428 billion, while net profit fell 12 percent to SEK 517 million.

The main contributor to sales growth in the quarter was Sweden, where service revenue was up 5 percent on strong mobile data demand.

In the Netherlands, Tele2 continued to add customers and revenues, as it started migrating subscribers to its own network. However, the bigger customer base and data usage led to increased costs for its MVNO agreement.

In Kazakhstan, customer growth surged to 428,000 in the three months, thanks to new price plans, while revenues rose 46 percent year-on-year. The higher customer acquisition costs led to break-even EBITDA.

In total, Tele2 added 235,000 customers in Q1 to reach 13.829 million at the end of March. The mobile base increased by 318,000, mainly driven by the positive intake in Kazakhstan and the Netherlands. The fixed broadband customer base decreased by 20,000, primarily attributable to Tele2's operations in the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany, and the number of fixed telephony customers fell by 63,000.

Total Telecom