Vodafone revenues fall 24%

Vodafone, no. 2 on the Romanian mobile telephony market, posted 23.8% lower revenues in the fiscal quarter ended in December 2009, compared with the previous year, although its number of clients rose by almost 1%, to 9.663 million users. The operator gained 50,000 subscribers and 80,000 pre-paid card users. The company blames its revenue decline on the difficult economic context and on "intense" competition, which led to significant fee cuts as part of the promotional offers launched in December. "Despite the difficult economic context and the competitive market we operate on, we have managed to end the calendar year 2009 with good results. (...) In the quarter ended December 31, a significant number of users have chosen the services provided by Vodafone Romania. Last year, we saw an over 20% decrease of the local telecom industry, which makes us keep on focusing on making our business more efficient," said Liliana Solomon, CEO of Vodafone Romania. The operator did not provide details on the value of its revenues and of its profit. Between April and September 2009 Vodafone posted 486 million euros in revenues and an EBITDA of 223 million euros.