Telenor Pakistan posted an operating profit of NOK 644 million in the first quarter of the year, up compared to NOK 377 million in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. The operator’s revenues for the quarter amounted to NOK 1.995 billion, up from NOK 1.395 billion in the same period the previous year. Total revenues in local currency increased by 10%, mainly due to growth in the subscription base, increased revenues from incoming international traffic and financial services.

The number of subscriptions increased by 50,000 during the quarter, negatively affected by restriction of new SIM sales during the SIM verification period, parent company Telenor reported. At the end of the quarter, the subscription base was 4 percent higher than the same quarter last year. Around 27 percent of the overall subscriber base are now active data users.

ARPU in local currency decreased by 6 percent, primarily due to the continued on-net competition which was partly offset by increased revenues from data and voice bundles and growth in emergency loans. EBITDA margin increased by 6 percentage points mainly due to higher revenue growth and reduction in energy costs in addition to a positive one-time effect from reversal of accruals. The underlying EBITDA margin stood at 41 percent at 31 March 2015.

Telenor Pakistan’s capex for Q1 increased to NOK 326 million from NOK 202 million in Q1 2014. Capital expenditure increased due to further expansion of the 3G network with more than 900 sites added during the quarter, thereby expanding the 3G coverage to 78 cities.