OTE's Romtelecom records lower revenues, profit at six months in Romania, voice segment drop offset by TV and Internet

Romanian landline operator Romtelecom, part of the Greek group OTE, ended the second quarter of this year with EUR 150 million in revenues, and an EBITDA Pro Forma of almost EUR 35 million. The second quarter revenues were down 4.9 percent on the same quarter in 2012. For the first six months, Romtelecom's revenues were down 7 percent, to some EUR 294 million. The drop was however lower than OTE's revenues decrease on the fixed line operations in Greece, both for the second quarter, and for the first six months. The second quarter EBITDA pro Forma profit was down 13.6 percent on the same period of 2012, while the six-month profit, of EUR 74.4 million, represented a drop of 7.9 percent on the first half of 2012. In Q2’13, Romtelecom continued to partly offset lower revenues from voice (-16.7 percent) and wholesale (-5.5 percent) with increased revenues from TV (+10.5 percent) and Internet services (+5 percent). Compared to the year-earlier level, the total number of Romtelecom broadband customers rose by 5 percent at the end of Q2’13, reflecting organic subscriber acquisitions. “As a result, broadband penetration as a percentage of total Romtelecom voice connections stood to 54 percent. With similar penetration rates (57 percent), TV subscribers rose by 7.3 percent compared to the end of Q2’12. Both of these developments represent significant advances in Romtelecom’s ability to defend its customer base despite the increased competitive pressure,” according to OTE. editor@romania-insider.com