The net result of the Sonatel group (National Telecommunications Company of Senegal), which includes subsidiaries in Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, fell slightly by 2% at the end of the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, announced the leaders of this telecommunications company based in Dakar.

The result of Sonatel (BRVM: SNTS) fell from 143.4 billion FCFA on September 30, 2019 to 140 billion FCFA. As for turnover, it increased by 3.2%, standing at 895 billion FCFA against 820 billion FCFA as of September 30, 2019. According to Sonatel group officials, this growth was able to take place despite a difficult environment. more aggressive competition in Senegal and Bissau and despite the COVID pandemic. They also estimate that “retail revenues increased by 3.8% driven by the Mobile Data, Orange Money and Fixed Broadband growth drivers”. The latter generated the bulk of the revenue growth and increased by 21.2%, 23.7% and 18.6% respectively compared to the third quarter of 2019.

Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes and duties and amortization), for its part, increased by 9.6%, standing at 380 billion FCFA against 355.3 billion FCFA as of September 30, 2019. The leaders of Sonatel explains this increase by a good control of indirect expenses which is added to a stable direct margin. The level of investments of the Sonatel group stood during the period under review at 143.6 billion FCFA against 156.3 billion FCFA a year earlier, a decrease of 3.3%. According to Sonatel officials, the major issues are centered around better addressing the customer (capacity extension, densification), very high speed for all with the acceleration of FTTX and 4G, 4G+ and 4.5G deployments. to meet the strong demand of the populations, varied fixed connectivity, Voice and Data abundance and digitization to facilitate the implementation and access to the operator's services while maintaining a modern, agile and optimized network.

At the end of the third quarter of 2020, the fixed, mobile and Internet customer base of the Sonatel group increased by 7.3% compared to 2019 and reached 34.9 million. The leaders of this group justify this increase by maintaining the recruitment dynamic, despite the slowdown observed in the second quarter of 2020 with the cessation of commercial events during the first days of the COVID19 health crisis. As for the outlook, they argue that faced with the arrival of new players, particularly on the Senegalese market, Sonatel will maintain its value-oriented strategy while strengthening its competitive advantage in very high-speed fixed and mobile connectivity.

In addition, in an effort to improve profitability trajectories, officials of the telecommunications company maintain that a cost containment program has been implemented and will be reinforced in all group operations. Finally, they envisage in particular, subject to major events that could modify the course of business in the group's countries of operation, continued growth in turnover, driven by performance in mobile data, Orange Money mainly in Guinea, Mali and Sierra Leone as well as continued growth in the operating margin thanks in particular to cost control programs.