Unefon Q1 loss grows 11%

Mexican mobile operator Unefon saw its net loss broaden 11% this quarter to 102mn pesos (US$9.5mn today), from 91.3mn pesos in 1Q02, the company said in its earnings statement. Healthy revenues and Ebitda were hit by financing costs of 175mn pesos that had skyrocketed compared to the 3.6mn pesos paid in 1Q02. These costs break down into a 103mn-peso foreign exchange loss, net interest cost of 120mn pesos, monetary gain of 56.3 mn pesos, and other financial costs totaling 7.5mn pesos. Total revenues grew 44% year-on-year to reach 957mn pesos and Ebitda more than quadrupled at 283mn pesos. Unefon ended the quarter with more than 1.5 million customers, up 58% compared to 1Q02, and was signing up new clients at the rate of 11,900 a week, compared to 10,500 a week at the same time last year. The company has total long term debt of 4.5bn pesos, mostly in the form of a US$300mn vendor financing debt with Canada's Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT). Unefon's major shareholders are Moises Saba and TV Azteca (NYSE: TZA) (33%).