The Croatian incumbent Hrvatski Telekom (HT) ended the first quarter with 408,000 TV customers, a 5.3% increase on a year earlier.
TV ARPU, at HRK81 (€10.8), was only slightly down (-0.1%) on Q1 2016.
The consolidation of Montenegro’s Crnogorski Telekom in January had a positive impact on the HT’s Q1 results, with revenues increasing by 8.7% year-on-year to HRK1,818 million.
EBITDA before exceptional items increased by 7.4% to HRK674 million and net profit by 9.5% to HRK149 million. In the latter case, without Crnogorski Telekom’s contribution net profit would have increased by 6.8% to HRK145 million.
Commenting on the results, Davor Tomaskovic, president of the management board of HT, said: “In the first quarter of 2017, Hrvatski Telekom continues with the trend of increasing key financial indicators and is on a stable path of growth. In the next months, we will focus on further investment in our infrastructure. This way, we will ensure HT’s technological superiority and innovative services as the basic prerequisites to the best customer experience and premium position on the market.
“Furthermore, together with Crnogorski Telekom, we are creating the prerequisites to changes in this company, which is the first step of HT to the regional market. In the first quarter, Crnogorski Telekom has already taken steps that are necessary for transformation of the company and for stabilisation of financial indicators. We believe that the redesign of the organisation and the action plan for realisation of synergy effects in the areas of procurement, wholesale and market appearance will substantially contribute to positive changes and to the fastest possible return of Crnogorski Telekom to the path of growth.”