Vimplecom capex up 25% to $ 1.04 billion in third quarter

Telecom service provider VimpleCom on Wednesday said its Capex (capital spending) rose 25 percent in the third quarter of 2013 to $1,040 million from $829 million in the same period last year.

During the first nine months of 2013, VimpleCom Capex decreased 3 percent to $2426 million from $2489 million.

VimpleCom says its Capex for the full year will be approximately 20 percent of revenue.

VimpleCom CEO Jo Lunder said the company would plan substantial investment in its mobile data networks in Russia in the final quarter.

Its capital spending in Q3 reflects the expansion of the mobile networks in Russia, Bangladesh and CIS, as well as the continued roll out of HSPA+ and backbone capacity to support data growth in Italy and acquisition of 3G license in Bangladesh.

In Italy, VimpleCom Capex reached EUR 153 million, which was invested primarily in the expansion of mobile HSPA+ coverage, capacity, and performance, as well as in the backhaul capacity to support the strong data growth.

source: www.telecomlead.com

vodafone to spend more on networks as revenue drops

Investments in "Project Spring," the network-improvement project announced in September, will expand to £7 billion ($11.2 billion) by March 2016 - a year ahead of schedule and £1 billion extra - Vodafone. Service revenue, excluding currency swings and acquisitions, fell 4.9 per cent in the quarter ended September 30, missing analysts' estimates for a 4.6 per cent decline, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

CEO Vittorio Colao is betting that Vodafone can benefit from investing ahead of a recovery in European markets, expanding the reach of faster mobile and fibre broadband services. Including Project Spring, Vodafone will spend more than £19 billion on its network by 2016, Colao said on a conference call . It may be difficult for competitors to keep pace with the Newbury, England-based company's spending, according to a report from Moody's Investors Service.

"The clear, underlying message is that most companies in Europe are going to have to step up their capex in order to accelerate convergence to set off the challenges coming from Vodafone," said Carlos Winzer, senior vice president of corporate finance at Moody's.