March 8 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian telecommunications group BTC said on Thursday it turned to a consolidated net profit of 71.1 million levs ($45.0 million/36.3 million euro) in 2017 from a net loss of 19.6 million levs in 2016.
Consolidated revenue rose to 889.5 million levs last year from 875.3 million levs in 2016, BTC, which operates under the brand name Vivacom, said in an annual financial statement.
Expenses for materials and consumables fell to 161.6 million levs in 2017 from 167.5 million levs the year before. Other operating expenses decreased to 213.1 million levs in the review period from 240.8 million levs a year earlier.
Depreciation and amortization costs dropped to 200.1 million levs, compared to 243.4 million levs in 2016.
The number of Vivacom subscribers fell 1.5% year-on-year to 3.133 million as at end-2017. BTC is the third largest telecommunications operator in Bulgaria in terms of subscriber numbers.
On the mobile segment, BTC competes with the Bulgarian units of Norway's Telenor and Telekom Austria.
Bulgaria has a population of around 7.2 million.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)