2008 Q1 results show consolidation of Romtelecom growth on broadband, data and TV services, while fixed telephony remains stable.

The main shareholder of Romtelecom, OTE, announced today the IFRS financial results of the company for the first quarter of 2008.

The results for the first quarter of 2008 confirm the trends established in 2007 for Romtelecom’s activities, with strong growth recorded on the new services segments (broadband, data and television services) and a stabilization of the customers’ base around 3 million for fixed telephony. Thus, the results for the first months of this year confirm Romtelecom repositioning on the Romanian market as a competitive player.

Data services (ADSL, VPN, other broadband services), a rapidly emerging revenue generator, recorded a significant growth (+69%) during the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same period last year. At the end of Q1 2008, were recorded 448,000 ClickNet Internet broadband users. Also, the DTH TV service Dolce, launched in late November 2006, reached 484,000 users at the end of Q1 2008.

With regard to fixed telephony, usage increased significantly, particularly the long distance traffic (+89% in Q1 2008 as compared to Q1 2007), indicating customers’ satisfaction for the new offers launched under Customer 1^st policy (like unlimited on-net off-peak traffic for all minutes-included subscriptions).

The Q1 2008 revenues are stable compared to the same period last year, recording approximately 219 million Euro. The operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization, for Q1 2008 are 24.4% higher than in the same period 2007, mostly due to the one off provision of 29.6 million Euro representing expenses related to the restructuring process that the company is implementing in 2008.

Without considering the exceptional expenses related to restructuring, the operational profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) is almost the same with the one recorded in the past year, recording a slight decrease in comparison to the same period last year, reaching 39% compared to 40.8% in the past year.

“The challenge we undertook is to rebuild the organization while is operating with full speed ahead. The results are showing we’re on the right track. We are working both on improving the internal processes and overall organization efficiency, as well as on growing the customers base and increasing our presence on growing market segments”, stated Yorgos Ioannidis, CEO Romtelecom.