Cost cutting, new sales boost TeliaSonera's Q2 09 results

A combination of higher sales and ongoing cost-cutting has paid off for TeliaSonera, as the Stockholm-based service provider was able to achieve an 8 percent gain in second-quarter net profit. TeliaSonera has also raised its outlook for operating profit margins, saying they will be higher in 2009 than they were in 2008.

During the second quarter, TeliaSonera reported net profit of about $600 million. Meanwhile, company sales, which grew approximately 9 percent in the same period, were $3.68 billion, up from $3.38 billion during the same quarter last year.

Not surprisingly, TeliaSonera, like other European service providers such as KPN and Telenor, reported that its business customer base has been most affected by the poor economy, while its mobile and broadband base remained intact. Pohjola Bank analyst Kimmo Stenvall, said in an Associated Press article that this factor shows that consumers "don't give up their mobile- and their broadband-connections."

For more:
- Associated Press/New York Times has this article

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