Vodafone loses 1.2 million customers in Romania, sees 1.4% profit drop

Telecom company Vodafone Romania had total revenues of EUR 812 million in the fiscal year 2011 – 2012, a 2.7 percent drop on the previous year, and a profit before taxes of EUR 302.9 million, according to the company. The profit was also down 1.4 percent against the year before.

The telecom company lost 1.2 million customers during this period, compared to the year before, mainly due to disconnecting inactive prepay cards and to a new reporting standard, the company explains. Vodafone ended the period with 7.9 million customers. Around 43 percent of the customers were subscribers, the rest pre-pay cards users. The revenue per user was of EUR 7.1 for the whole financial year and of EUR 7 for the last quarter, ending on March 31. The telecom company managed to convince more clients to become subscribers rather than pre-pay users, increasing the weight of subscribers from 37 to 43 percent from its clients portfolio. Over the last financial year, Vodafone saw its mobile Internet services increasing significantly while the penetration rate of smartphones in its clients base doubled on the year before. Revenues from mobile data services went up by 30 percent in the quarter ending March 31, compared to the same period of 2011. Vodafone Group's revenues over the 2011-2012 financial year were up 1.2 percent, to some GBP 46.4 billion, while its EBITDA – profit before taxes- was down 1.3 percent, at BGP 14.5 billion. In Romania, Vodafone competes with Orange, Cosmote and RCS&RDS, the local company which also offers mobile communication services. editor@romania-insider.com