MobiFon, the mobile telephony company that holds the Connex brand, posted Q3 EBITDA of $76.4 million, the largest EBITDA level ever achieved. EBITDA increased 18.7% in the above-mentioned period compared to $64.4 million for the same period last year.
Service revenues reached 144.1 million, a 28% increase over $112.6 million for the third quarter of 2002.
EBITDA as a percentage of service revenue decreased to 53% compared to 57% in the quarter ending September 30, 2002. Operating income rose 11.7% to $48 million compared to $43 million for the third quarter of 2002.
Connex added 215,954 net subscribers for the third quarter for a total of 2,962,081, compared to 2,462,560 subscribers at the end of the same 2002 period.
Prepaid/postpaid mix at the end of September 2003 was 63/37 compared to 65/35 a year ago.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) for the third quarter reached $15.44 compared to $14.44 in the second quarter and $14.45 for the same period of last year.
For the first nine months, service revenues increased 23.4% to $384.4 million compared to $311.5 million for the same period last year. EBITDA increased 23.6% to $213.6 million compared to $172.8 million for the 2002 period. Operating income rose 17.8% to $129.7 million compared to $110.1 million for the first nine months of 2002.
“We are pleased with our achievements this year, the greatest of which was that we were the first mobile telephony operator in Romania to reach the 3 million subscriber milestone early in October,” says Ted Lattimore, MobiFon’s President and COO.
The growth is considered to be reflective of an improved economic environment in Romania and increased marketing activities by all operators.
During the past 12 months, management estimates mobile telephony penetration in Romania increased to 28.2% from 20.4% at the end of the third quarter of 2002.
In April 2003, MobiFon declared and paid a dividend of $59.1 million, of which (majority shareholder) ClearWave’s share amounted to $33.5 million. ClearWave’s majority shareholder is Canada-based Telesystem International Wireless (TIW). TIW holds 49.4% in MobiFon indirectly, while UK’s Vodafone holds approximately 20%.
In July 2003, the shareholders of MobiFon approved additional distributions of $35.7 million by means of a par value reduction that was distributed on October 22, 2003, of which $15.1 million was paid to minority shareholders.
MobiFon’s archrival in Romania, Orange Romania, several days ago announced total service revenues for the first nine months of 336 million euros. Orange Romania had logged 241 million euro turnover for the first three quarters in 2002.
Q3 revenues amounted to 130 million euros compared to 109 million euros in the previous quarter (April 1- June 30). Orange Romania totalled 2.905 million clients on September 30, 2003 compared to 2.590 million on June 30 and to 2.020 million on September 30, 2003. iuliana.susanu@zf.ro