Revenue for VimpelCom’s Telecel Globe operations in sub-Saharan Africa have grown 10% year-on-year, while earnings in the region have jumped 51% and subscriber numbers are up 8%.

This is according to the global telecom group’s financial and operating results for the quarter ended March 31, 2014.

Telecel Globe represents VimpelCom’s operations in sub-Saharan African nations that include Zimbabwe, Burundi and the Central African Republic.

And in these countries, Telecel Globe notched up total operating revenues of $22 million for the first quarter of 2014, up from $20 million in the same period last year.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for Telecel Globe jumped 51% from $6 million in the first quarter of 2013 to $9 million for the same period this year.

Other results for VimpelCom in sub-Saharan Africa point to how Telecel Globe’s total number of mobile customers in this region grew 8% from 4.106 million in 2013 to 4.417 million this year.

Meanwhile, in VimpelCom’s Algerian operation, ‘Djezzy’, its mobile network there reported decreased service revenues of $33 million from $34 million last year.

Ebitda in Algeria is also down 5% from $20 million in the first quarter of 2013 to $19 million this year. Djezzy; though, grew its mobile customer base 6% YoY to 17.6 million

“Djezzy's revenue decreased 2% YoY, as a result of the strong competition following the launch of 3G services by other operators, lower outgoing traffic, and lower interconnect revenue due to the new interconnect pricing which included lower local rates,” says VimpelCom in its results statement.

“Djezzy's customer market share decreased to 51%, due to the discovery of non-counted customers of competition, and hence customers of competitors were under-estimated by 592 thousand,” adds VimpelCom.

Djezzy’s lack of good fortune resembles more of VimpelCom’s global results this year.

VimpelCom has reported 218 million mobile customers worldwide, spanning 17 countries that include the likes of Russia, Italy, Pakistan and Canada.

And overall, VimpelCom’s group revenue declined organically by 5% year-on-year to $5 billion, while Ebitda fell 6% in the same period to $2.1 billion.

"We previously indicated our expectation that 2014 would be a challenging year and the Q1 results reflect the more difficult trading environment,” notes Jo Lunder, chief executive officer of VimpelCom.