November 14 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian telecommunications group BTC said on Tuesday its consolidated net profit soared to 59.7 million levs ($35.7 million/30.5 million euro) in the first nine months of 2017 from 6.1 million levs in the like period of 2016.
Consolidated revenue rose to 662.0 million levs in the January-September period from 650.4 million levs in the corresponding period of last year, BTC, which operates under the brand name Vivacom, said in an interim financial statement.
Expenses for materials and consumables fell to 114.1 million levs in the nine months through September from 118.3 million levs the year before.
Other operating expenses decreased to 156.3 million levs in the review period from 159.9 million levs a year earlier.
Depreciation and amortization costs fell to 151.5 million levs, compared to 188.8 million levs in the first nine months of 2016.
The number of Vivacom subscribers rose 0.9% year-on-year to 3.17 million as at end-September. 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)