Romanian fixed telephony operator RomTelecom last year posted net losses worth 64.6 million euros, up 38.9 percent since 2001, the company's main shareholder, Greek group OTE said yesterday.
At the end of last year, RomTelecom operated almost 4.2 million of fixed telephone lines, up 3.4 percent since the end of 2001. The company managed to cut net debts to 391.1 million euros, down 17 percent as compared to December 2001.
RomTelecom revenues posted a slight decrease in 2002 (minus 0.7 percent) as compared to the previous year, going down to 948.8 million euros.
RomTelecom's 2002 results were hit by the performance of Cosmorom, its mobile telephony division. Cosmorom logged net losses amounting to 131.2 million euros, against operating revenues worth 15.4 million euros.
In December 2002, the mobile telephony operator had 44,915 subscribers, 35.5 percent less than in the previous year. The company also had 54,447 users of prepaid cards, up 45 percent since the end of 2001.
On the whole, the number of Cosmorom customers dropped 7.3 percent in the past year, from 107,209 down to 99,362 people. In fact, OTE management has recently said it does not rule out the sale of Cosmorom.
In its turn, OTE Group announced net profit of 358.1 million euros, down 9.4 percent since the previous year.
Also yesterday, OTE announced that the deal which would enable it to control the Romanian fixed telephony operator RomTelecom could become final today. The group added layoffs and cost-cutting measures were in order, as shown in an OTE press release.
RomTelecom's financial results will therefore be included in OTE's reports as of March 1.
"This transaction, part of OTE Group's international strategy will allow us to speed up RomTelecom's restructuring process. Significant layoffs throughout 2003-2004 and aggressive measures to cut the operating costs should enable RomTelecom to post the same EBITDA rate as the entire group (40 percent) starting 2005," the OTE release shows.
On the other hand, the Greek group specifies the capital investments for modernisation and acquisition of equipment and infrastructure for RomTelecom will not exceed 250-300 million dollars a year over the next three years.
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