Strong set of results achieved in a challenging macro environment: All-time high quarterly revenue and EBITDA at the Group levelGroup revenues up 26% year-over-year, 59% on two-year cumulative basis. Resilience at operating profitability level; Group EBITDA including the impact of new IFRS standards up 47% year-over-year, 97% on two-year cumulative basis, EBITDA margin at 41.3%Net Profitability despite high volatility in financial markets thanks to prudent financial risk managementOperational Capex/Sales at 16%, in line with our plan Operational performance continued with solid results: Record-high mobile ARPU 2 growth of 18% on the back of successful execution of digital services-focused strategy and upsell performanceStrong customer loyalty reflected by mobile churn rate of 2.2% 3, and leading NPS in the sectorMobile triple play subscriber ratio 4 at 63.9%, up 13.5pp year-over-year; multiplay with TV subscribers ratio 5 at 47.5%, up 5.2pp year-over-yearData usage of 4.5G users at 7.0GB in Q31818.2 million 4.5G compatible smartphones on our network, up 0.5 million quarter-on-quarter Second installment of dividend distributed on September 17 We upgrade our guidance 6 for 2018. Accordingly, we are targeting revenue growth of 20%-22% up from 16%-18% range and EBITDA margin of 39%-41% up from 37%-40% range. We keep our target operational capex over sales ratio 7 of 19%-18% unchanged.
(1) EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure.
(2) Excluding M2M
(3) Average monthly churn rate for the respective quarter
(4) Share of mobile voice line users which excludes subscribers who have not used their line in the last 3 months. Triple play refers to mobile customers who use voice, data and one of core digital services.
(5) Multiplay subscribers with TV: Fiber internet + IPTV users & fiber internet + IPTV + fixed voice users
(6) Please note that this paragraph contains forward looking statements based on our current estimates and expectations regarding market conditions for each of our different businesses. No assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with such estimates and expectations. For a discussion of factors that may affect our results, see our Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2017 filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and in particular, the risk factor section therein
(7) Excluding license fee
For further details, please refer to our consolidated financial statements and notes as at and for September 30, 2018 which can be accessed via our website in the investor relations section ( www.turkcell.com.tr ).
COMMENTS BY KAAN TERZIOGLU, CEO
Our digital business model has sustained profitable growth; we once again raise our guidance
Our business model developed over the past 3.5 years has successfully weathered the tough macro-environment of the third quarter of 2018. Our digital services, which aim to create value for every one of 1440 minutes each day, was downloaded nearly 130 million times. The data usage of 4.5G users reached 7GB per month on average this quarter. Even more customers have promoted us, reflecting higher satisfaction. Such strong operational performance coupled with prudent financial risk management has led to continued growth in revenues and EBITDA 1, despite strong macro headwinds.