COSMOTE Romania performance kept relatively stable in Q1 2013

COSMOTE Romania announces key performance indicators for the first quarter of 2013 fiscal year, ended March 31st, 2013, as reported today by OTE Group.

In Q1 2013, COSMOTE Romania maintained a relatively stable track on key performance indicators, despite economic and regulatory challenges impacting the market as a whole. Notably, COSMOTE Romania's number of business customers in Q1 2013 grew by 21.4% compared to Q1 2012, reflecting the company's targeted offers for professional users and synergies with Romtelecom in the B2B segment. Also, the company's 3G customer base increased by 28.6% compared to Q1 2012.

As of the end of March 2013, COSMOTE's total customer base was 6.1 million (including Zapp), with a postpaid ratio of 24.9%, relatively at the same level with Q1 2012, as a result of the business segment growth and appealing offers for the residential segment. 

Total revenues in the first quarter of 2013 reached 108.2 million euro, registering a decrease of 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year, whereas the decrease of termination rates in Q1 2013 in comparison with Q1 2012 was above 25%.

EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) decreased by 6.2% versus Q1 2012, impacted by steep regulatory measures. EBITDA margin reached 22.5%, up by 0.4 p.p. vs. Q1 2012.

Blended ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) in Q1 2013 decreased by 5.9% compared to Q1'12, due to lower incoming ARPU adversely affected by mobile interconnection rate cuts.

"The first quarter of 2013 comes after a difficult year, with many external challenges requiring fast and efficient actions. We are satisfied with our stable performance in revenues and ARPU and with the significant growth of our business segment, despite fierce competition, lower interconnection rates and heavy investments. With the recent launch of 4G services and with our broad portfolio of innovative products and services that are aimed at fully covering our customers' needs, we are set to make further inroads in the period to come”, said Konstantinos Apostolou, COSMOTE Romania's Chief Financial Officer.

COSMOTE Romania constantly invests in its sales distribution chain, which included, at the end of March 2013, approximately 540 points of sale across the country.

With a market share of approx. 24%, COSMOTE Romania will continue to focus on expanding its broadband and corporate segments, while remaining the operator of choice in Romania, as indicated by the latest portability data.