Theocharopoulos: Cosmote is not affected by the crisis, our ARPU is rising

“I think we are, more or less, in the same situation as last year.  Apart from some signs of caution, we see nothing specific and cannot measure the impact on business,” according to a declaration by Theocharopoulos for Business Standard.

The declarations of Cosmote Romania’s CEO are in contradiction with those of the heads of the top two players on the market.  Theocharopoulos said that Cosmote’s average revenue per user (ARPU) is rising, in spite of the economic climate, unlike for the two leading telecommunications companies.
“We managed to have ARPU equivalent to that of the market,” added Theocharopoulos.

For Orange, leader in terms of users, ARPU dropped 8.4 percent last year, to €119, while the second-largest telecom company, Vodafone, reported ARPU at €10.10 per month in the third quarter, which ended in December, compared to €11.08 in the same period in 2007.
 
At the end of September, Cosmote had ARPU worth €5.2, down €0.8 year-on-year.
 
“We are not afraid of the crisis.  Communication is a basic need for people and, if we consider that the Romanian telecommunications market has not been subject to any slippage, and prices are at the right level, we believe that users will cut other costs, not those for mobile telephony. This is no longer a luxury, but a day-to-day product,” added Theocharopoulos, who explained that he will not switch to quarterly or half-year budgeting, but rather stick to the budget model in 2008, for the whole of 2009.