Vodafone Romania posts 23.8% drop in revenues

The company’s customer base reached 9.663,000 at the end of last year, compared to 9.535 million in September and 9.649 million at the end of 2008.

Vodafone added 128,000 customers in the fourth quarter of 2009 for a total of 9.663 million customer base.

“Despite the difficult economic context and the competitive market we operate in, 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 offered by Vodafone Romania. Last year, we have seen an over 20% decrease of the local telecom industry, which makes us keep on focusing on making our business more efficient and addressing the customers’ current needs”, said Liliana Solomon (photo), chief executive of Vodafone Romania.

The average revenue per user for the 12 months ending December 31, reached €8.1 versus €8.7 in September last year and €10.10 at the end of 2008, while mobile ARPU reached €8 in the same period.

Postpaid subscribers accounted for 38.1% and prepaid for 61.9% of Vodafone Romania’s total subscriber base, in the quarter ended December 31, compared to 37.9% versus 62.1%, in the same period last year. This is the equivalent of an annual growth of 0.9% in the postpaid subscriber base.

Vodafone didn’t provide any details on full-year revenues and operating profit for 2009.

Last time Vodafone announced its revenues and operating profit was in November for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2009-2010 (April – September 2009) when the carrier recorded revenues of €486 million, down 20.9% from the same period of 2008, when the company posted revenues of €615 million.

Vodafone’s operating profit (EBITDA) stood at €223 million at the end of September, 22.6% below September 2008 levels.

Orange, the largest telecom company in Romania, had a customer base of 10.69 million users at the end of September, while Cosmote, the third largest carrier had 6.59 million users.