April 27 (SeeNews) - A1 Bulgaria, a unit of A1 Telekom Austria Group, said on Thursday that its earnings before interest and taxes, amortisation and depreciation (EBITDA) grew by an annual 15.2% to 68 million euro ($75.03 million) in the first quarter of 2023, despite pressures arising from high inflation.
Revenue in the January-March period rose by 20.2% on the year, reaching 165 million euro, with 8.5 million euro contributed by recently acquired local IT services firm Stemo, the telecoms operator said in an interim financial statement published earlier this week.
A1 Bulgaria wrapped up the purchase of Stemo last August.
The strong performance in the first quarter of 2023 was supported by an expansion of the retail business which led to growth in the number of mobile subscribers, as well as a rise of TV subscribers. The ongoing demand for high-speed internet services more than offset a drop in the voice segment, A1 Bulgaria noted.
In line with similar moves by competitors, A1 Bulgaria raised its local tariffs in March. "The comparatively high premium rates were increased by a fixed amount and the rates in between were increased by 15.3%," the company said.
While personnel costs took a turn towards growth, costs for electricity were lower than in the first quarter of 2022.
A1's international operations also include Belarus, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.
($ = 0.9061 euro)