NII Holdings Announces Second Quarter 2014 Results

RESTON, Va., Aug. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NIHD) today announced its consolidated financial results for the second quarter of 2014. The Company reported a net loss of 77,000 subscribers for the quarter, bringing its quarter-end subscriber base to 9.4 million, a 6 percent decrease from a year ago. Financial results for the second quarter include consolidated operating revenues of $969 million, a 23 percent decrease compared to the second quarter of 2013; consolidated adjusted OIBDA loss, which excludes the impact of non-cash asset impairments, restructuring charges and other unusual items, of $137 million; and a consolidated operating loss of $504 million. For the second quarter of 2014, the Company generated a net loss from continuing operations of $629 million, or $3.65 per basic share. Capital expenditures were $123 million for the quarter.

"Despite the actions we've taken to improve our operational performance, we have fallen short in our efforts, leaving the Company with a liquidity position that is not sufficient to support the business," said Steve Shindler, NII Holdings' chief executive officer.  "Our subscriber base in Brazil continued to grow during the second quarter overcoming a market slowdown during the World Cup and higher iDEN churn. While our subscriber losses in Mexico were lower than last quarter, we are still short of where we need to be in that market.  We will continue to take actions to improve our results in Mexico including the optimization of our distribution channels and the staging of our 3G services to more effectively attract new customers. We are excited that Salvador Alvarez has joined our team as President of Nextel Mexico as we work to return to subscriber growth. However, with our current liquidity position and the cash demands on our business, these ongoing initiatives will not be sufficient to allow the Company to continue to operate unless we are able to restructure our debt obligations, find a strategic solution or some combination of those approaches.  As a result, we will need to make some key decisions in the short term to address our liquidity situation in an effort to secure the best possible path forward for our stakeholders."

NII Holdings' consolidated average monthly service revenue per subscriber (ARPU) was $28 for the second quarter of 2014, down from $36 in the same quarter last year. The Company also reported consolidated average monthly churn of 3.39 percent for the period, compared to 2.67 percent in the second quarter of 2013.  Consolidated cost per gross add (CPGA) was $296 for the second quarter of 2014, a $20 increase from the year ago period.

The Company ended the second quarter with $5.8 billion in total debt and $1.0 billion in consolidated cash, restricted cash, and investments, resulting in $4.8 billion of net debt.

"While we have seen progress on some operational metrics, our financial performance continues to reflect the impact of the deterioration in our revenue base," said Juan Figuereo, NII Holdings' executive vice president and chief financial officer.  "We have put plans in place to stabilize our revenues and improve our profitability, and we are taking more aggressive actions to reduce our costs and balance our investments in growth against the increasing pressure on our liquidity. We also continue to work with our advisors to identify and evaluate potential strategic transactions and have engaged in a series of productive discussions with holders of various series of our senior notes regarding a potential consensual restructuring of our balance sheet."

As a result of the Company's financial performance in combination with the potential impact of its inability to satisfy certain financial covenants under our existing debt obligations, the Company will likely find it necessary to file a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in order to implement a restructuring of its obligations on a stand-alone basis or in conjunction with one or more potential strategic transactions as disclosed in greater detail in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In addition, due to the Company's ongoing review of its strategic and restructuring options, the Company will not host a financial results conference call this quarter.  Additional operational and financial details are available in the Form 10-Q and in the earnings presentation available under the Investor Relations link at www.nii.com.

In addition to the preliminary results prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) provided throughout this press release, NII Holdings has presented consolidated adjusted OIBDA, ARPU, CPGA and Net Debt. These measures are non-GAAP financial measures and should be considered in addition to, but not as substitutes for, the information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations from GAAP results to these non-GAAP financial measures are provided in the notes to the attached financial table. To view these and other reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures that the Company uses, visit the investor relations link at www.nii.com.

About NII Holdings, Inc.

NII Holdings, Inc., a publicly held company based in Reston, Va., is a provider of differentiated mobile communication services for businesses and high value consumers in Latin America. NII Holdings, operating under the Nextel brand in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile, offers fully integrated wireless communications tools with digital cellular voice services, data services, wireless Internet access and Nextel Direct Connect^® and International Direct Connect^SM, a digital two-way radio. NII Holdings is a Fortune 500 and Barron's 500 company, and has also been named one of the best places to work among multinationals in Latin America by the Great Place to Work^® Institute. The Company trades on the NASDAQ market under the symbol NIHD. Visit the Company's website at www.nii.com.

Nextel, the Nextel logo and Nextel Direct Connect are trademarks and/or service marks of Nextel Communications, Inc.

Visit NII Holdings' news room for news and to access our markets' news centers: nii.com/newsroom.

Safe Harbor Statement
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  This news release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the securities laws. The statements in this news release regarding the business outlook, future performance and forward-looking guidance, as well as other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflecting management's judgment based on currently available information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements.  With respect to these forward-looking statements, management has made assumptions regarding, among other things, the Company's ability to meet its business plans and maintain compliance with financial covenants under its existing operating company debt obligations, customer growth and retention, pricing, network usage, operating costs, the timing of various events, the economic and regulatory environment and the foreign exchange rates that will prevail during 2014.  Future performance cannot be assured and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include the risks and uncertainties relating to the impact on our financial results, not meeting our business plans or failing to meet our financial covenants on the required testing dates; the impact of more intense competitive conditions and changes in economic conditions in the markets we serve; the risk that our network technologies will not perform properly or support the services our customers want or need; the risk that customers in the markets we serve will not find our services attractive; potential reductions in the recorded value of our assets that may result from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and, in particular, fluctuations in the relative values of the currencies of the countries in which we operate compared to the U.S. dollar; unexpected results of litigation; and the additional risks and uncertainties that are described in NII Holdings' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, as well as in other reports filed from time to time by NII Holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release speaks only as of its date, and NII Holdings disclaims any duty to update the information herein.

Media Contacts:

NII Holdings, Inc.
1875 Explorer Street, Suite 1000
Reston, VA. 20190
(703) 390-5100
www.nii.com

Investor and Media Relations: Tahmin Clarke
(703) 390-7174
tahmin.clarke@nii.com

NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS
FOR THE THREE AND SIX MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30, 2014 AND 2013
(UNAUDITED)

Consolidated OIBDA and Consolidated Adjusted OIBDA

Consolidated operating income before depreciation and amortization, or OIBDA, represents operating income before depreciation and amortization expense. Consolidated adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, or adjusted OIBDA, represents consolidated operating income before depreciation expense, amortization expense, material non-cash asset impairments, severance costs associated with publicly announced restructuring plans and other material non-recurring or unusual charges. Consolidated OIBDA and consolidated adjusted OIBDA are not measurements under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, may not be similar to consolidated OIBDA and consolidated adjusted OIBDA measures of other companies and should be considered in addition to, but not as substitutes for, the information contained in our statements of operations. We believe that consolidated OIBDA and consolidated adjusted OIBDA provide useful information to investors because they are indicators of our operating performance, especially in a capital intensive industry such as ours, since they exclude items that are not directly attributable to ongoing business operations. Consolidated OIBDA and consolidated adjusted OIBDA can be reconciled to our consolidated statements of operations as follows (in millions):

Average Monthly Revenue Per Handset/Unit in Service (ARPU)

Average monthly revenue per subscriber unit in service, or ARPU, is an industry term that measures service revenues, which we refer to as subscriber revenues, per period from our customers divided by the weighted average number of subscriber units in commercial service during that period.  ARPU is not a measurement under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, may not be similar to ARPU measures of other companies and should be considered in addition, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our statements of operations.  We believe that ARPU provides useful information concerning the appeal of our rate plans and service offerings and our performance in attracting and retaining high value customers.  Other revenue includes revenues for such services as roaming, handset maintenance, cancellation fees, analog and other.  ARPU can be calculated and reconciled to our consolidated statement of operations as follows (in millions, except ARPU):

Cost per Gross Add (CPGA)

Cost per gross add, or CPGA, is an industry term that is calculated by dividing our selling, marketing and handset and accessory subsidy costs, excluding costs unrelated to initial customer acquisition, by our new subscribers during the period, or gross adds.  CPGA is not a measurement under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, may not be similar to CPGA measures of other companies and should be considered in addition, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our statements of operations.  We believe CPGA is a measure of the relative cost of customer acquisition.  CPGA can be calculated and reconciled to our consolidated statements of operations as follows (in millions, except CPGA):