Global telecommunications and media firm Millicom's Q2 results have been mixed as far as its operations in Africa is concerned. The company reported a 1.3% reduction in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) which it said was due to challenging market conditions in Africa.

However, the company added that the period under review was the best quarter ever for net additions of 4G mobile and hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) customers, recording 1.2 million 4G mobile net additions to 5.0 million subscribers.

"High-speed data network expansion continues at a brisk pace, consistent with our strategic goals: 328,000 new HFC homes passed, 1.2 million added in last twelve months; raising our long-term ambition to 15 million homes passed. Service revenue 0.2ppts higher than Q1 at -1.3%; solid cash flow generation continues, with H1 equity free cash flow iii up $82 million year-on-year," the company said in a statement.

Millicom's Chief Executive Officer, Mauricio Ramos, said the period was the company's strongest ever quarter in terms of customer net additions for both mobile 4G and its fibre-cable network.

According to him, the company is getting better at deploying its HFC network faster and more cost-effectively; and is continuing to to see strong customer average revenue per user (ARPU).

"As a result, we are raising our long-term ambition to reach 15 million homes passed over the long term, up from our previous target of 12 million previously. We continue to rapidly expand our high-speed data networks to meet the growing needs of our customers, eager to adopt the digital lifestyle," said Ramos.

According to the company, its primary objective in Africa is to ensure the region can fund itself going forward.

"We remain confident that we will achieve this goal in 2017 notwithstanding the challenging operating conditions that we have seen year-to-date. At the Group level, we remain laser-focused on identifying and extracting operating efficiencies, and we produced 40 basis points of margin expansion year-on-year while delivering significant customer net additions during the quarter. We continue to anticipate achieving equity free cash flow breakeven for the Africa region," he said.