Norway's Telenor ASA posted a smaller-than-expected 10 percent drop in first-quarter core earnings and said it would cut investment spending to help its income as global markets gradually recover.Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for one of the world's biggest mobile groups with 174 million subscribers fell to 7.09 billion crowns. ($1.28 billion)It beat an average forecast for 6.68 billion crowns in a Reuters poll of 19 analysts, whose predictions ranged between 6.32 and 7.04 billion crowns."Current trends in the Asian and Nordic regions are positive and I am pleased to see that the Telenor Group had a rebound in organic revenue growth," said Chief Executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas in a statement.Telenor, which has operations in 14 countries in Europe and Asia, affirmed its 2010 guidance for low single digit organic revenue growth and said it expected an EBITDA margin of "around 28 percent" compared with 27-28 percent previously."In addition, we revise our expected capex to sales ratio slightly downwards, following the development in (Indian unit) Uninor and lower overall investments during the first quarter," Baksaas added.Revenues fell 2.7 percent year-on-year to 23.95 billion crowns in the quarter, matching analyst views.Telenor said that its Uninor operations in India, the world's fastest-growing mobile market, confirmed the recovery in this region with a positive trend in financial performance.India unit had an EBITDA loss of 974 million crowns in the first quarter, against a 1.0 billion loss forecast by analysts.Telenor repeated its forecast of an EBITDA loss of 4.5-5.0 billion crowns for India this year.Analysts have long been sceptical about the move into India, where margins are wafer thin and competition for hundreds of millions of potential clients immense.Last week Telenor's India unit launched a new traffic-based discount plan for mobile calls that could see prices falling, the latest salvo in an ongoing price war.(Reporting by Richard Solem; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)(For more business news on Reuters Money visit http://www.reutersmoney.in)News posted by www.newsinfoline.com
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