July 13 (SeeNews) - A1 Bulgaria, a unit of A1 Telekom Austria Group, said on Wednesday that its second-quarter earnings before interest and taxes, amortisation and depreciation (EBITDA) increased by an annual 14.2% to 63.3 million euro ($63.5 million) as all key indicators rose.
Total revenue in the three months to end-June went up by 4.3% on the year to 151.3 million euro, after fixed and mobile services revenue jumped 12.5% to 121.5 million euro, the company said in a press release.
The strong performance was partly driven by the business ICT services line, where the company sees an increased demand for IT and Internet of Things (IoT) services as well as cybersecurity solutions. The strength of the systems integration business is helped by the acquisition of local IT services firm STEMO, which was announced in late May.
Revenue from mobile services added 10.3% in the second quarter, reaching 79.3 million euro, as a result of A1 Bulgaria reducing its roaming tariffs by up to 96% for Turkey and the Western Balkans countries as well as offering more favourable post-Brexit charges for the UK compared to its standard non-EU tariff. A1 Bulgaria also invested in further rolling out its 5G ULTRA network, doubling coverage in residential areas to over 190 towns and resorts.
The number of A1 Bulgaria's mobile services subscribers also increased in the review period, by 1.4% to some 3.79 million, after remaining almost unchanged in the previous quarter.
At 42.1 million euro, the company's fixed-line services revenue in the April-June period was 16.8% higher than a year ago, chiefly driven by television subscriptions, including interactive TV and sports channels. Device and equipment sales dropped 26.9% to 26.3 million euro.
A1 Bulgaria competes with Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), which operates under the brand name Vivacom, and Yettel, previously Telenor Bulgaria, owned by Netherlands-incorporated investment group PPF, which is controlled by the family of late Czech billionaire Petr Kellner.
($ = 0.9971 euro)