Telekom Srbija H1 EBITDA Rises 11.6% Y/Y to 19 Bln Dinars (203 Mln Euro) – Media

First-half profit increased by an annual 26.2% to 10.2 billion dinars, broadcaster b92 (www.b92.net) reported, quoting a company statement.

It was not immediately clear if the reported figure referred to pre-tax or net profit for the review period.

Telekom Srbija’s total revenue rose by 5.1% on the year to 42.6 billion dinars through June, b92 said.

“Telekom Srbija’s operating revenue rose faster that costs despite the global economic crisis and the significant slowdown in the ICT sector,” the telco said in the statement, adding it expects this trend to persist in the second half of the year.

The number of its ADSL users doubled to 216,000 at the end of June compared to a year earlier, the statement said, adding that there are currently a total of 326,450 ADSL users in Serbia.

State-controlled Telekom Srbija (www.telekom.rs) is the single provider of fixed-line services in the country of some 10 million people. It also controls some 70% of the domestic wireless services market through its MTS unit.

It is the majority owner of the second-largest telecommunications company in neighbouring Bosnia, Telekom Srpske, and of the m:tel mobile operator in Serbia’s southern neighbour Montenegro.

(1 euro=93.5752 dinars)