Swedish operator Tele2 today reported that net profit for the first quarter more than halved to SKr230m (ВЈ17m), down from SKr483m a year ago. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also dropped from SKr1.41bn to SKr1.37bn, although revenues increased from SKr11.57bn a year ago to SKr13.45bn.

Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, president and chief executive officer of Tele2 said that 2006, “is a year of transition. The balance we have maintained between growth, profitability and cash flow has temporarily shifted in favour of growth as we seize the opportunities available to us in broadband and mobile, in order to position the business for the longer term.”

The company’s number of mobile subscribers increased 43 per cent year on year to top 12.4 million during the first quarter, but the fixed telephony and internet subscriber base suffered as users migrated away. The fixed line base decreased 9 per cent year on year to just over 18 million.

TeliaSonera yesterday recorded net sales of SEK2.8bn (ВЈ209m) at its mobile division in its home market of Sweden in the first quarter, flat on the same period a year earlier.

Although the operator’s Swedish mobile subscriber base increased to 4.4 million at the end of March, average revenue per user (ARPU) dropped from SEK205 in the first quarter 2005 to SEK199 in 2006.

In Finland TeliaSonera recorded sales of SEK2.2bn, down from SEK2.6bn in the first quarter 2005. Finnish ARPU also fell from SEK31.90 in the first quarter of 2005 to SEK27.30 in 2006. The Finnish mobile subscriber base climbed to 2.5 million at the end of March.

Seven Asian operators today announced the formation of an alliance to enhance competitiveness in the international roaming market and deliver corporate services across the Asia-Pacific region.

The Asia Pacific Mobile Alliance boasts a combined customer base of about 100 million subscribers over eight countries and regions, but plans to expand its members over time.

The founding members are: Far EasTone (Taiwan), Hutchison Essar (India), Hutchison Telecommunications Limited (Hong Kong and Macau), KTF (South Korea), NTT DoCoMo (Japan), PT Indosat (Indonesia) and StarHub (Singapore).

The alliance will promote voice, video and data roaming via members’ GSM/GPRS/WCDMA networks, with an intention to launch roaming via HSDPA once the market is ready. These initiatives are targeted for launch in the latter half of 2006.

The alliance also aims to create a Virtual Home Environment amongst customers of member operators, so that they are able to experience seamless, convenient mobile-related services when they roam. Such services include caller ID and short codes to allow quick and easy connection to their home country operator’s voice mail and customer support.

The formation of the Asia Pacific Mobile Alliance marks the arrival of the region’s second such partnership. Last year the Bridge Mobile Alliance launched its first services – seamless GPRS and MMS roaming and a common prepaid roaming top up service.

The Bridge Alliance’s founding operator members are Airtel in India, CSL in Hong Kong, Globe Telecom in the Philippines, Maxis in Malaysia, SingTel Mobile in Singapore, SingTel Optus in Australia, Taiwan Mobile in Taiwan and Telkomsel in Indonesia. But the organisation has now opened its doors to the vendor community, with the inclusion of Chinese vendor ZTE, Sweden’s Ericsson and US manufacturer Motorola.