“It is obvious that this is a year with significant challenges for the local telecom. The market is expected to drop, if calculated in euro. The decline could amount to up to 10 percent, as communications are less impacted than other industries,” the Managing Director of Roland Berger Romania consulting company Codrut Pascu, told Business Standard. He added that declines are likely to temper in the coming quarters. Orange representatives said that the lower revenues were due to the sharp depreciation of the leu against the euro, of 15.3 percent, the regulation of tariffs, a drop in prices, and lower consumption on certain segments. Investments were also adjusted in Q1 2009. A 17.6 percent decline in capital expenses of Orange’s owner, France Telecom, was especially visible in operations in Romania and Poland. “We plan to maintain a high investment value this year, but will set goals and priorities every quarter, based on the evolution of the market,” Orange Romania’s Interim General Manager, Thierry Millet, said.
This year’s priority is the development of broadband mobile internet services, as the segment is registering growth. The ratio of revenues from data services rose 2.3 percentage points compared to Q1 2008, to 12.4 percent. At the end of the first quarter, the number of broadband clients was 1.89 million, some 81 percent higher year-on-year. France Telecom revenues rose 0.4 percent year-on-year in Q1, up to €12.68 billion. A decline in revenue was more visible in Eastern Europe.
