SOFIA (Bulgaria), May 22 (SeeNews) - Telecommunications company Telenor Bulgaria, a unit of Czech-owned PPF Group, said on Wednesday that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by an annual 19% to 89 million levs ($50.8 million/45.5 million euro) in the first quarter of 2019.

Telenor Bulgaria's total revenue increased by 5.4% year-on-year to 179 million levs in the first three months of 2019, the company said in a statement.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) grew 8.4% to 15.0 levs in the January-March period.

Sales of high-end smartphones also positively affected the company's total revenue, Telenor Bulgaria added.

Telenor Bulgaria's clients decreased slightly during the review period, and numbered 3.04 million at the end of March.

On the Bulgarian mobile segment, the company competes with A1 Bulgaria, the local unit of Telekom Austria and Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), which operates under the brand name Vivacom.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)