SOFIA (Bulgaria), May 10 (SeeNews) – Telenor Bulgaria said on Wednesday it recorded an annual increase of 134% in the total mobile data usage in the company network in the first quarter of 2017 mainly due to the expansion and optimization of its 4G network.
“As of end-April 2017, data traffic via the company’s 4G network comprises more than 52.5% of the total data traffic,” Telenor Bulgaria said in a press release.
Some 200 new locations have been added to the 4G network coverage in the past few months, bringing the total number of locations with a population of more than 1,000 people to 610. As of May, Telenor 4G network covers 89.06% of Bulgaria’s population, the company said.
The company's 4G network coverage was extended to over 6,500 kilometers of the country’s main roads as of end-April, it added.
Telenor's 4G network is now available on 95% of the country’s highways, as well as on 95% of the first-class and 77% second-class roads in Bulgaria.
Last week, Telenor said the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of its Bulgarian unit rose by 3.4% year-on-year to 61 million levs ($34 million/31.16 million euro) in the first quarter of 2017. Total revenues rose by 1.9% year-on-year, reaching 159 million levs in the period under review.
Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor bought Bulgarian mobile operator Globul from Greece's OTE for 717 million euro in 2013. In November 2014, Globul was rebranded to Telenor Bulgaria.
On the Bulgarian mobile segment, Telenor competes with Mtel, a unit of Telekom Austria, Bulgarian telecommunications group BTC, which operates under the brand name Vivacom, as well as 4G operator Max.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)