“To better target this segment, we will focus on services for our clients. We will continue to improve our network’s quality and will also focus on retail network and services,” Cosmote Romania CEO, Stefanos Theocharopoulos, said.

The company targets positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by the end of 2008, after posting losses for several years, due to investments in re-launching mobile services. In the second quarter, the company posted EBITDA worth €5 million. However, for the first six months, the company posted €2.7 mln in operating losses, €85.5 percent less than in H1 2007.

“It is very important for us to grow, but we also want to be profitable. We do not want to grow at any price,” Theocharopoulos added. He declined to say when the company is set to register net profit.

Five mobile service companies are operating in Romania: Orange Romania, market leader in terms of clients, Vodafone Romania, Cosmote Romania, RCS&RDS, and Zapp. “We could say that the Romanian telecom market is crowded, since many of the European markets have no more than three operators. The battle is a very difficult one from a financial point of view, because this business requires significant investments in networks and technology,” Theocharapoulos said. “It is very challenging to maintain growth, given the margins, the levels of competition, and low prices in Romania,” Theocharopoulos added.

Cosmote is owned by Greek OTE telecom group, recently acquired by Germany’s Deutsche Telecom.