Fruity financials
With October drawing to a close, it’s been a big – and not necessarily fruitful – week for financial results.
Following reports of América Móvil’s profits dropping by nearly 40% last week, others in the industry have also found themselves on a downward trend.
Russia’s second-biggest mobile operator, MegaFon, posted a net profit of 12.8 billion roubles ($295.4 million) for Q3, a 16.5% drop from 15.3 billion roubles last year.
The company named increased depreciation and amortisation charges due to network roll-outs, as well as the acquisition of Scartel, as contributing factors to the decline.
TWC, meanwhile, reported a significant loss of residential video customers for Q3 2014, compared to the previous quarter.
The company lost a whopping 184,000 video customers during the period, which equated to a loss in common shareholder net income from $532 million in Q2 2014, to $499 million for this quarter.
However, both TWC and MegaFon claimed that overall revenue and sales increased and the latter has even predicted a 6-8% overall sales growth for 2014.
In an interview with Capacity in May this year, Phil Meeks, COO and EVP of TWC Business Services, said that the largest growth for the company in the future is unlikely to come from residential cable, as video-on-demand and OTT services increase. And he seems to be being proven correct.
But while operators appear to have been hit hard in this quarter, vendors seem to be enjoying more success.
Alcatel-Lucent has surpassed its expectations in Q3, recording a 34% improvement in gross profit margin.
Cloud expectations
Tata Communications made headlines this week with the launch of its global network platform for enhanced hybrid cloud enablement, in an attempt to simplify the challenges and complications of the cloud.
Despite its traction worldwide, some enterprises remain wary of the cloud, and operators and vendors alike have been developing solutions in an attempt to increase customer confidence.
Tata has adopted a three-pronged approach with its new platform IZO, which comprises IZO internet WAN, IZO private and IZO public.
IZO internet WAN is designed to provide the security, flexibility and predictability of a private network to the public internet, IZO private focusses on connecting businesses to cloud service providers via private network connectivity, and IZO public tags and prioritises content for Tata enterprise customers.
"We're taking the necessary steps towards making the Internet 'Fit For Business' by bringing a new level of predictability and reliability to the public internet that does not exist today," said Vinod Kumar, MD and CEO at Tata Communications.
"This isn't something we can do alone and we are joined in this initiative to bring about a new era of internet by some of the world's leading ISP and cloud providers, as we collaborate to achieve a common goal."
Partners of the platform include Neutrona Networks, Rogers Communications, StarHub and Viettel.
Not long until awards night…
Next Tuesday, the winners of the Global Carrier Awards will be announced at a black-tie gala dinner event in Amsterdam. To keep anticipation growing for the biggest and most prestigious awards night in wholesale telecoms, Capacity last week revealed the shortlist for the executive of the year category.
There are some big names up for this year’s awards, which include a prize for leadership and a prize of industry contribution. To view them and the full list of shortlisted companies, click here.
Good luck to all those involved and we look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam.
Laura Hedges
Senior reporter
Capacity
