[May 15, 2013] Slovak Telekom Q1 EBITDA declines 3.7% as revenue keeps falling [IntelliNews - Weekly Reports] Tweet (IntelliNews - Weekly Reports Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Slovakia's second-biggest mobile operator, Slovak Telekom, majority owned by Deutsche Telekom, said its EBITDA (earnings before tax, interests, depreciation and amortisation) fell by 3.7% y/y to EUR 82.9mn in the first quarter of 2013, as its revenue continued to decline. The company's revenue fell 6.7% y/y to EUR 192.3mn in Q1 due to price cuts reflecting regulatory demands and strong competition. It expects its revenues to remain under pressure this year, as the country's telecoms regulator is preparing new significant cuts in both mobile and fixed termination rates. The number of Slovak Telekom's active mobile subscribers fell 1% y/y to 2.289 million at the end of March, with the post-paid customer base widening by 0.6% and pre-paid clients declining by 5.4%. The number of subscribers for fixed-line telecom services fell 6.3% y/y to 945,000 at end-March, but broadband lines rose 4.4% y/y to 488,000 and digital TV subscribers increased 10.2% y/y to 179,000. Slovak Telekom CEO Miroslav Majoros said the company would focus on further strengthening of its digital TV operations, as well as on supporting growth of its ICT and mobile broadband business. Slovak Telekom increased the coverage of its 3G network to 79% of the population as of end-March from 77% at end-December. Deutsche Telekom owns 51% of Slovak Telekom and the Slovak government owns the remaining 49%, but it is preparing to sell it. Slovak Telekom competes with France Telecom's Orange, the country's biggest operator and with Spanish Telefonica's O2, which is the smallest operator, but the only one that has been reporting growth in revenue and subscriber numbers over the past year. Key figures Q1 2013 Q1 2012 y/y change 2012 Revenue, EUR mn 192.3 206.2 -6.7% 837 EBITDA, EUR mn 82.9 86.1 -3.7% 352 ARPU, only mobile network, EUR 13 14.1 -7.8% 14 Fixed Line Services Business         Fixed network accesses (thousands) 945 1,009 -6.3% 960 Broadband accesses (thousands) 488 468 4.4% 480 Digital TV subscribers (thousands) 179 162 10.2% 175 Mobile Services Business         Number of customers (thousands) 2,289 2,312 -1.0% 2,311 - of which post-paid customers (thousands) 1,455        1,446 0.6% 1,463 - of which number of customers using pre-paid Easy Card (thousands) 576 609 -5.4% 591 - of which number of SIM cards for SkyToll (thousands) 257 257 0.1% 257 source: Slovak Telekom         (c) 2013 Emerging Markets Direct Media Holdings LLC Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]