Telekom Romania increased revenues by 0.3%, in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period of 2013, to EUR 784.5 million, and the operating profit (EBIDTA), by 1.9%, to 193 million, according to Greek OTE’s financial report.

“The results indicate a stable performance of Telekom Romania operations, laying the basis for the sustainable growth we anticipate in the medium and long run,” said Anastasios Tzoulas, Chief Financial Officer, Telekom Romania operations.

Telekom Romania is indirectly controlled by Deutsche Telekom, via OTE group. The German group unified its operations in Romania under one single brand, Telekom Romania, starting September 2014. However, the group operates via two companies, Telekom Romania Communications, the former Romtelecom, which is 54% owned by OTE and 46% owned by the Romanian state, and Telekom Romania Mobile Communications, the former Cosmote, in which OTE has 70% and Telekom Romania Communications has 30%.

The two companies have separate financial results, which are reflected as part of OTE group’s consolidated financial results. Deutsche Telekom controls 40% of OTE and the Greek state has 10% of the company. The rest of the shares are held by institutional and retail investors.

Telekom Romania Communications increased its revenues by 2.4% in the first nine months, to EUR 457.7 million. The company’s EBITDA also increased by 12.7%, to EUR 114.6 million. The company covers the fixed communications services of the group, which include fixed voice services, fixed broadband internet and cable or satellite TV. The company increased the number of TV subscribers in the last year (September 2014 compared to September 2013) by 5.8%, to almost 1.4 million. The number of broadband internet subscribers remained stable, at 1.24 million, while the number of voice telephony lines declined by 4.6%, to 2.17 million.

Revenues from fixed line services were slightly down in the first nine months, but the sale of real estate assets helped the company increase its overall revenues.

Telekom Romania Mobile Communications posted a 2.6% decline in revenues, to EUR 326.8 million, and a 10.6% drop in EBITDA, to EUR 78.1 million. This was determined mainly by the termination rate cuts implemented by the Romanian telecom market regulator in April 2014. The company had a total of 5.9 million customers at the end of September, of which more than a quarter have subscriptions (postpaid services).

“The figures reflect the considerable impact of unpredicted regulatory and taxation measures, together with the necessary investments in the rebranding of the operations into T. This considerably limited our capacity to invest in commercial initiatives, with indirect effects in new additions. Nonetheless, the constant growth on key areas, such as the business segment, broadband revenues, and postpaid customer base offer a solid base for Telekom Romania to further consolidate its market position as an integrated network offering complete solutions,” Tzoulas concluded.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com