A1 Bulgaria grows 9-mo EBITDA 13.5% y/y on higher revenue

The telecommunications services provider's overall revenue went up by 7.5% on the year to 453.6 million euro in the January-September period of 2022, as revenue from fixed-line services added 16.4% to 127 million euro, the company said in an interim financial report.

A1 Bulgaria's revenue from mobile services increased 8.4% to 236.9 million euro in the review period, while services revenue grew 11% to 364 million euro. There was a 10.7% annual decrease in revenue from ICT equipment sales to 81.1 million euro, while revenue from device sales was 14.4% higher on the year at 33.9 million euro.

"In the third quarter, A1 Bulgaria again had a stable performance in the mobile segment thanks to investments in expanding the coverage of the 5G ULTRA network, which already covers almost all residential areas with a population of over 3,000 people and offers gigabit speeds to users," the company said. Mobile services revenue added 8.9% on the quarter to 82.8 million euro.

The solid quarterly performance also reflected the first-time consolidation of STEMO, after A1 Bulgaria closed its acquisition of the local local IT services company in August, in a boost to its corporate ICT offering.

The fixed-line business continued to grow yet another quarter on the back of demand for higher speed internet and a 5.1% growth in the fixed-line services client portfolio to some 1.16 million subscribers. The largest rise -- 7.6%, was in the number of television subscribers.

Last week, A1 Bulgaria told SeeNews its investment in the 5G Ultra network will amount to about 52 million levs ($26.1 million/26.6 million euro) in 2022. The company booked a 98% rise in the number of active users in the three months to the end of August.

Earlier this year, Bulgaria's communications regulator awarded 20-year 5G frequency licences with national coverage to the three main telecommunication companies operating in the country in a tender that fetched 13.4 million levs.

A1 Bulgaria competes with Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), which operates under the brand name Vivacom and is part of Dutch-based United Group, and Telenor Bulgaria owned by Dutch-registered investment group PPF.

($ = 1.01923 euro)

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)