(Telecompaper) Vimpelcom reported a sharp fall in first-quarter results, hurt by the stronger dollar. Revenues fell 30 percent to USD 3.515 billion, and EBITDA dropped 33 percent to USD 1.396 billion. On an organic basis, excluding the currency impact, service revenue fell 2 percent, with Russia stable, Italy down 5 percent, Algeria falling 11 percent, Pakistan down 4 percent, Ukraine up 5 percent and Bangladesh growing 10 percent. Net profit improved to USD 184 million from USD 38 million a year ago. Vimpelcom reduced capital expenditure by 44 percent to USD 407 million, and operating cash flow was down 27 percent to USD 989 million. The company's net debt ratio was stable at 2.4 times EBITDA. Vimpelcom said the results were in line with expectations with most of businesses performing in line with or better than their local markets. The stronger fall in EBITDA was mainly a result of the delayed launch of 3G services in Algeria and continued market weakness in Italy. This was partly offset by service revenue growth in Bangladesh and Ukraine. The mobile customer base grew 2 percent year-on-year to 218.1 million at the end of March. Vimpelcom maintained its full-year outlook and the new CEO Jean-Yves Charlier said he will update the market on the group's strategy at the next quarterly report in August.