Cosmote Romania 1Q Revenue At EUR107.3M, Down 6.5% On Year

05.06.2011 By Gavrila Oana

Revenues of mobile operator Cosmote on the Romanian market declined 6.5% in the first quarter, to EUR107.3 million, mainly due to the adverse economic conditions combined with very aggressive offers in the prepaid segment, Greek telecom group OTE said in its financial report Friday.

At the end of the first quarter of 2011, Cosmote's total customer base in Romania reached 6.6 million, including Zapp, of which 22.4% was postpaid. At the end of last year, Cosmote Romania's customer base stood at 6.9 million, of which 21.9% was postpaid.

The mobile operator's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) more than doubled, to EUR17.9 million from EUR6.6 million in the first quarter of 2010, when revenues stood at EUR114.8 million.

The company's EBITDA profit margin climbed to 16.7% from 5.7%.

"Excluding voluntary exit scheme charges in Q1'10, EBITDA doubled compared to the same quarter last year, reflecting significant operating improvements following the successful integration of Zapp," the company said in its report.

Cosmote Romania is the third largest mobile telecom operator in the country by number of clients. In Romania, OTE also owns hard line telecom operator Romtelecom and the local division of retailer Germanos.

German group Deutsche Telekom owns 30% in OTE and has started procedures to raise its share to 51%.