OTE: Consumption May Pick Up As Late As 2011 In Romania

05.09.2011 ZF English

Despite some macroeconomic stabilisation signs registered in the first quarter, particularly generated by exports and some infrastructure projects, consumer spending is still frozen in Romania, Greek group OTE, owner of local telecom operators Romtelecom and Cosmote, said in its financial report.

Both companies reported falling revenues for the first quarter of this year and Michael Tsamaz, chairman and CEO with OTE, expects the situation to remain challenging until yearend.

"Romania's economy will return to growth this year, but this may have an impact over consumption only later, namely at the beginning of next year. We hope new products and higher convergence between fixed and mobile operations will allow us to control the revenue decline. Despite the aggressive competition, we expect the Romanian Cosmote subsidiary to generate better results than the ones registered at market level," stated Tsamaz.