January 31 (SeeNews) - Telekom Austria said its Macedonian subsidiary one.Vip posted a 7.2% growth in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation), to 26.1 million euro ($27.9 million), in 2016.
One.Vip's total revenues dropped 2.7% to 119.4 million euro in 2016, as compared to proforma figures for the like period of 2015, Telekom Austria said in a full-year 2016 financial report released on Monday. The main reason for the decline was the decrease in interconnection revenues caused by lower transit.
Proforma figures include effects of mergers and acquisitions executed between the start of the comparison period and the end of the reporting period. Figures for 2015 reflect the merger of Vip operator with the third-largest operator in Macedonia, ONE, consolidated as of October 1. Following the merger, the combined entity, one.Vip, is now the leading operator in the mobile segment in Macedonia, Telekom Austria said.
One.Vip's total costs and expenses, which were 5.1% lower in 2016, more than compensated for the total revenue decline, Telekom Austria pointed out.
"The savings in total costs and expenses were mainly driven by lower administration expenses", it added.
In the fourth quarter alone, One.Vip posted an EBITDA of some 5.9 million euro, 14% higher on the year.
One.Vip's mobile subscriber base decreased by 59,800 subscribers to 1.1 million as of end-December.
One.Vip competes with T-Mobile Macedonia, part of Deutsch Telekom, on a market of some two million.
($=0.93465 euro)