Mobiltel, the leading mobile operator in Bulgaria, which operates under the M-tel brand, said that its customer base had risen by 13.2 per cent to 5.2 million at the end of June 2008, compared with the year-ago period, the telecom's Austrian parent company Telekom Austria said in its first-half financial report.
M-tels market share remained unchanged at 50.5 per cent in the second quarter of this year, compared to Q2 2007. The mobile penetration rate in Bulgaria rose to 133.8 per cent at end-June, compared with 117.4 per cent 12 months earlier, Telekom Austria said.
A 22.7 per cent increase in the number of average minutes of use charged per subscriber partially offset the lower prices and resulted in a total average revenue per user (ARPU) of 9.90 euro in Q2 2008, compared with10.30 euro in Q2 2007.
M-tel revenues rose by 4.2 per cent to 165.6 million euro in the second quarter, driven by higher monthly rental and traffic revenues, which compensated for lower visitor roaming revenues. Higher revenues from data also contributed to an increase in traffic revenues.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by 4.7 per cent year-on-year to 95.8 million euro during the April-June period. Mobiltels operating income decreased by 5.3 per cent year-on-year to 51.7 million euro in the second quarter, due to higher depreciation and amortization charges, Telekom Austria said.
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