“Everything is going in the right direction, but it takes some time for all things to be solved. As concerns the government, the report will be finalized by the end of the year. We are optimistic that we will finalize the takeover in the not so far future,” said Beckers, at an event celebrating one year from rebranding Cosmote and Romtelecom into Telekom.
Telekom Romania Communications (formerly Romtelecom) is one of the largest local telecom operators. It is owned by Greek telecom group OTE (owned by Deutsche Telekom) – 54.01% and the Romanian Ministry for Information Society – 44.99%.
Beckers added that Telekom might enter the Romanian energy market in 2018, after the full liberalization of the market.
Telekom group’s revenues in Romania declined 4.2% in the first half of the year, to EUR482 million from EUR503 million in the same period last year, due to lower termination rates imposed in the second quarter of 2014.
Second quarter revenues stood at EUR241 million, constant compared to the same period of the previous year and the previous quarter.
The telecom operator’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) for Romanian operations declined 23.5% in the first six months, to EUR104 million from EUR136 million in the first half of 2014.
Second quarter EBITDA dropped 30% on the year, to EUR49 million from EUR70 million in the second quarter of 2014.
The German telecom operator saw a decline of 0.5% in mobile customers in Romania in the first six months, to 6.015 million customers. The operator had 6.008 million mobile customers at the end of the first quarter in Romania and 6.047 million at the end of last year.
Land-line customer numbers declined to 2.153 million at the end of March, down 6.7% compared to March 2014 and down 3.8% compared to December 2014.
Telekom’s customer numbers also declined on the broadband segment, where it reached 1.186 million customers, down 1.1% compared to December and down 1.2% compared to June 2014. Compared to March, broadband customer numbers dropped 0.5%.
Telekom Romania Mobile Communications (formerly Cosmote Romania) is owned by Cosmote Group, part of OTE Group – 70% and Romtelecom – 30%.