Telekom Austria’s Serbian Wireless Unit Widens Jan-Sept Operating Loss to 124.8 Mln Euro

Vip mobile reported 56.5 million euro in revenue through September of 2009, up from 40.6 million euro it posted in revenue for the same period last year, Telekom Austria said in a statement. 

Vip mobile was licensed as the third mobile operator in Serbia in July last year.

In the third quarter of 2008 Vip mobile generated revenue of 15.8 million euro and negative earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 6.2 million euro, a slight decrease compared to the previous quarter, Telekom Austria said in a statement.

In the third quarter of 2009 Vip mobile generated revenue of 22.7 million euro, up from 15.8 million euro it posted in revenue for the third quarter of 2008.

The company’s negative earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the third quarter of 2009 totalled 3.9 million euro. It posted 6.2 million euro in negative EBITDA for the third quarter of 2008.

Telekom Austria’s Serbian unit had 1.07 million subscribers at the end of September of 2009, compared to 752,600 subscribers at the end of September last year.

The company raised its market share to 11.5% at the end of September, 2009, from 7.9% at the end of September of 2008.

In Serbia, a country of 7.5 million people, Vip competes with state-owned MTS, which holds more than half of the market, and the local arm of Norway's Telenor.

Besides Vip mobile, 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 Macedonia's Vip.

($ = 0.6693 euro)