RomTelecom revenue $395m

On the first half of this year, RomTelecom registered operating revenues standing at 395 million dollars, accounting for a quarter of turnover posted by the Greek telecoms operator OTE. The Romanian company currently holds about 40 percent of the Greek group’s foreign operations.

RomTelecom contributed 132 million dollars to OTE’s first-half one-percent growth in gross profit, as compared to the similar period of last year. Gross profit posted by the Greek concern totalled 628 million dollars.

“Better results could have been derived, considering the expansion of RomTelecom’s fixed network at a national level and the quality of supplied services,” Kostas Bratsikas, head of the public relations department within OTE Greece, told Ziarul Financiar.

He says that RomTelecom made very high investments this year for Cosmorom mobile phone operator and enforced salary raises it had pledged during negotiations with employees, which led to a cut down in the profit rate.

Contacted by Ziarul Financiar, RomTelecom representatives did not confirm the results, saying that the accounting standards of the two countries are different. OTE currently owns 35 percent of RomTelecom’s capital, for which it paid 675 million dollars two years ago.

Being 49 percent privatised and having five million subscribers, OTE also holds 20 percent in stock of Telecom Serbia and 90 percent in stock of ArmenTel, both transactions having been operated in 1997.

Cosmote, the group’s mobile phone branch, registered on the first half of this year gross profit reaching 52 million dollars, threefold higher as compared to the similar period of last year, amid double turnover, amounting to 88.8 billion drachmas (233 million dollars). The company, including over 1.5 million subscribers, controls 31.4 percent of the local market.

During the period January-June, ArmenTel recorded gross profit standing at 11.7 million dollars, 15 percent lower, against a level of operating income of 24.7 million dollars. Gross profit reported by Telecom Serbia reached 154 million dollars, while sales totalled 360 million dollars.