The telecoms group said in its nine-month report that Vipnet's mobile broadband customers rose 7.1% on the year to 206,500 at the end of September.
The group's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from operations in Croatia increased 9.5% to 114.1 million euro through September while revenues were 0.2% higher at 313.9 million euro.
“In the third quarter of 2012, the Croatian market remained impacted by persistent macro-economic headwinds and regulatory burdens. Vipnet was faced with an intense competitive environment as temporarily introduced aggressive all-in tariff packages led to lower pricing levels. However, a continued focus on the high value customer base allowed the contract subscriber base to rise by 6.0%," the report said.
Vipnet's number of mobile subscribers declined 3.9% on the year to 2.055 million at the end of September while its market share on the mobile segment at the end of the third quarter fell to 38.7% versus 39.2% a year earlier.
Mobile penetration in Croatia stood at 123% at the end of September, down from 127% a year earlier.
The Austrian group said it had 158,500 fixed access lines in Croatia at the end of September, including 81,200 broadband connections. The group's average revenue per fixed line in Croatia totalled 23.8 euro over the review period.
The group's capital expenditures in the Adriatic country rose by 58% on the year to 40.9 million euro in the first nine months of 2012.
On the mobile segment in Croatia, a market of 4.3 million, Vipnet competes with the local unit of Swedish telecoms group Tele2 and the wireless arm of incumbent telco Hrvatski Telekom.
Besides Vipnet, the wireless operations of Telekom Austria Group (www.telekomaustria.com) include Velcom in Belarus, Mobilkom Austria, Bulgaria's Mobiltel, Slovenia's Si.mobil, Serbia's Vip Mobile and Macedonia's Vip Operator.
