Telekom Austria's Macedonian Unit Posts 9-Mo Operating Loss of 18.5 Mln Euro

Comparative figures were unavailable, as VIP Operator was licensed as the third mobile operator in Macedonia in March last year and went commercial six months later.

“VIP Operator’s revenues amounted to 3.9 million euro in the third quarter. The company generated EBITDA loss of 4.3 million euro, reflecting a continuing reduction, compared to the previous quarter”, Telekom Austria said in a statement.

VIP posted an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss of 5.2 million euro in the second quarter of 2008. The company had a negative EBITDA of 15.5 million euro in the first nine months of 2008.

Telekom Austria's Macedonian unit had 250,900 subscribers at the end of September, compared to 209,200 three months earlier, and its market share was 11.5% at end of the September. The mobile penetration rate in Macedonia was 107.5% through September.

VIP Operator competes with Magyar Telekom’s T-Mobile and Greek-owned Cosmofon in the country of two million people.

Besides VIP Operator, the wireless operations of Telekom Austria group (www.telecom.at) include Bulgaria's Mobiltel, Belarussian Velcom, Mobilkom Austria, Croatia's Vipnet, Slovenia's Si.mobil and Serbia's Vip mobile.

($ = 0.7974 euro)