Oslo - Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor Wednesday posted an increase in pre-tax profit and sales for the second quarter of 2008.

Pre-tax profit was 5.2 billion kroner (1 billion dollars), compared to 3.8 billion kroner for the corresponding business period of
2007.

Second-quarter sales were 23.8 billion kroner, up from 23.1

billion kroner from a year ago, the group said.

The sums included earnings from its company Kyivstar in Ukraine, where Telenor has been engaged in protracted measures to get audited financial information about the operator.

Chief Executive Jon Fredrik Baksaas said Telenor had 153 million mobile telephone subscriptions at the end of the quarter with "growth mainly coming from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand."

In its Norwegian home, Telenor had just over half of the mobile market, and 61 per cent of the fixed line market measured in traffic minutes.

In its outlook for 2008, Telenor lowered its expected revenue growth to 3 per cent, citing the impact of higher inflationary pressure in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand, Baksaas said.

In addition to Norway and neighbouring Sweden and Denmark, Telenor has operations in Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Montenegro, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh. (dpa)