NII Holdings last week admitted that it is disappointed with its latest set of quarterly financials, as revenues slid and customers defected.
The company, whose operations now comprise mobile operations in Argentina and Brazil only, posted revenues of US$421 million in the three months to the end of June, down 28% on the year-ago quarter.
It reported an adjusted operating loss before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA loss) of $75 million and an operating loss of $179 million. The telco’s figures exclude the Mexican operations that it sold to AT&T in April and reflect a new accounting process in the wake of its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late June.
NII lost a net 64,000 customers during the quarter, ending June with 6.3 million, noting that iDEN subscriber losses in Brazil and Argentina outstripped 3G customer gains in Brazil.
"We are disappointed in our performance during the second quarter including the sequential decline in our adjusted OIBDA, which fell short of our expectations due to our inability to deliver on our revenue growth goals," said NII Holdings CEO Steve Shindler.
The CEO explained that NII’s figures were impacted by a challenging economic situation and a deterioration in foreign exchange rates. Those issues will continue to affect the company for the remainder of the year, he said.
"Our results to date and the negative economic outlook put us well behind the goals we set for ourselves in the business plan that was developed last year in connection with our Chapter 11 restructuring process," Shindler said. "We are implementing contingency plans designed to help us reach our long-term goals, but our focus for the remainder of this year will be to build our 3G subscriber base in Brazil and pursue cost saving strategies to help improve our profitability."
However, the company said that it will not provide a financial outlook for the remainder of the year due to the difficult economic conditions and forex issues. It expects to be able to provide some guidance for 2016 when its publishes Q4 2015 numbers.
