Romtelecom, former Romanian state monopoly on the communications market, now member of the Greek OTE group, had some 3,222,488 landline phone service subscribers at the end of this year’s first quarter, down by 613,159 subscribers from the same period last year. “Results for the first three months of 2007 are even better than we expected. There is a drop in landline phone lines, but at the same time there is solid growth in new services, which we expect to continue,” said Yorgos Ioannidis, General Manager of Romtelecom.
Revenue fell 0.4 percent because of the drop in customers but Romtelecom’s net profit rose 5.3 percent, to 19.8 €million in Q1 2007 from €18.8 million in Q1 2006, due to tax reduction and new services, according to OTE’s report. The operational profit before depreciation and amortization was €90 million, dropping by 4.5 percent in Q1 2007 compared to Q1 2006.
Romtelecom posted revenue worth of €222.1 million in the first three months of 2007, compared to €222.9 million in the same period in 2006. By the end of the first quarter, Romtelecom had 137,000 ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) customers, up by 110,000 from the same period in 2006, while Dolce (Romtelecom’s total digital television service) had 163,000 customers in a mere four months since it was launched.
Operational spending before depreciation and amortization rose 2.8 percent to €131.4 million, mainly because of salary-related increases and increased spending for the promotion of new services. The OTE telecommunication group posted €140.9 million worth of profit in this year’s first quarter, up 28 percent from Q1 2006, influenced by revenue increases from Internet services and the acquisition of Germanos (a company specialized in retail and wholesale of technology products and services, and in the production and distribution of batteries), according to Reuters. Sales rose 8.8 percent to €1.509 billion, while the operational income before amortization deduction and depreciations was €539.6 million.
,,Results for the first three months of 2007 are even better than we expected. There is a drop in landline phone lines, but at the same time there is solid growth in new services, which we expect to continue’’ Yorgos Ioannidis General Manager, Romtelecom.
