Myanmar unrest pushes Telenor deep into Q1 loss

OSLO, May 04 (AFP): Norwegian telecoms group Telenor said Tuesday it was pushed deep into loss in the first quarter after it was forced to write down all of its assets in Myanmar, where it is a major operator, as a result of the unstable situation there since the military coup on February 01.

Telenor said in a statement that it booked net loss of 3.9 billion kroner ($470 million, 390 million euros) in the period from January to March, compared with bottom-line profit of 698 million kroner in the same period a year earlier.

The loss was largely due to a writedown of 6.5 billion Norwegian kroner on its assets in Myanmar, where Telenor has had a commercial presence since 2014 and employs a workforce of around 750, the group said.

"Due to the worsening of (the) economic and business environment outlook and a deteriorating security and human rights situation, we see limited prospects of improvement going forward."