OTE's Cosmote posts lower revenues in Romania, but second quarter profit goes up

Mobile telephony operator Cosmote, owned by Greek group OTE, posted a EUR 111.4 million turnover in Romania in the second quarter of this year, and EUR 219.6 million for the whole first six months of 2013. The Q2 revenues were down 2.1 percent year-on-year, and the first half results brought a drop of 5 percent on the first six months of 2012. The revenue drop in Romania was however among the smallest out of OTE's mobile telephony markets. Greece led the pack, with a 12.6 percent drop in Q2 and a 15.2 percent drop in the first xis months. The smaller market of Albania also brought revenue decreases, 5.5 and 9.3 percent, respectively. The Pro Form EBITDA profit was however up in Romania for the second quarter: EUR 30.1 million, from EUR 29.1 million in the second quarter of 2012. At six months, Cosmote saw its profit down again, 1.1 percent, to EUR 54.4 million. Cosmote was again the best performing of all three markets where OTE runs mobile telephony services, with Greece again on top (17.9 and 19.4 percent drops in Q2 and H1, respectively), followed by Albania, with a drop of 10.5 percent in the second quarter, and 12.2 percent for the whole H1. In Q2 of this year, Cosmote Romania’s total customer base stood at 6 million, of which around a quarter was postpaid. “The number of business customers grew by 17.1 percent compared to Q2’12, reflecting the company’s targeted offers for professional users and synergies with Romtelecom in the B2B segment. In addition, the company’s 3G customer base increased by 27.5 percent compared to Q2’12,” according to OTE. editor@romania-insider.com