MobiFon, the leading Romanian GSM mobile telephony operator according to the number of clients is distributing dividends again and therefore helping its main shareholder, the Canadian telecom company Telesystem International Wireless (TIW) pay its debts. MobiFon first distributed cash in 2002.
The cash distributions from MobiFon and the sale of assets have allowed TIW to reduce total corporate indebtedness by over $95 million since the beginning of the year. The EMP investment fund has recently bought 5% in MobiFon for $42.5 million. TIW also closed the sale of its Brazilian cellular operations in Q1.
As of March 31, 2003 TIW's total consolidated indebtedness was $1.0bn, $283.7 million of which at MobiFon.
MobiFon, the company that holds the Connex brand, paid a dividend of approximately $59.1 million to its shareholders at the end of April. ClearWave's share of the dividend was approximately $33.5 million. The TIW officials expect further distribution of dividends during 2003.
According to TIW, MobiFon is the market leader in Romania with an estimated 51% share of the mobile telephony market and was totalling 2,672,700 subscribers at the end of Q1. The pre-paid/post-paid mix at the end of the first quarter 2003 was 65/35. As Ted Lattimore, Connex's COO has recently said, 2003 will be a rather difficult year in terms of attracting new clients. He added back then that Connex would focus on the already existing subscribers instead of focusing on attracting new ones.
Service revenues in Q1, 2003 reached $113.1 million, an increase of 18% compared to the $96.0 million for the first quarter last year.
EBITDA increased 25% to $65.8 million compared to the $52.6 million for the same period last year.
MobiFon's operating income rose 12% reaching $35.8 million, compared to the first quarter in 2002.
MobiFon's main shareholders are TIW, through ClearWave (about 60%) and British telecom company Vodafone (20%).
iuliana.susanu@zf.ro
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