Mobile telephony operator Orange Romania has posted operating profits before depreciation and amortisation for last year of 335 million euros, up 41% from the 238 million euros seen in 2003. It did not reveal figures for net profits, however.
Orange's total revenues reached 624 million euros in 2004, 33% higher than 2003. In other words, for every euro it collected, Orange made 53 eurocents of operating profit.
As a result, Orange remains one of the most profitable non-financial companies in Romania. Its net profits for 2003 were 127 million euros (calculated at the average ROL/EUR exchange rate for 2003) from a 238 million-euro operating profit.
CAPEX (investments in tangible and intangible assets excluding licences) for last year was 145 million euros, an increase on 2003's 111 million euros.
Like its main competitor, Connex, Orange bought a third generation mobile telephony licence last November. The 35 million-dollar fee for the frequency spectrum allocation will be paid to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in instalments.
The operator logged a decline in the annual rolling ARPU (average revenue per user) to 148 euros in 2004, compared with 2003 when the indicator reached 169 euros.
Orange concluded last year with 4.93 million customers in Romania (a 48% market share), up from 3.31 million at the end of 2003. The mobile telephony operator plans to boost its current number of customers by one million by the end of the year, said Richard Moat, the Orange CEO. To achieve this, Orange intends to invest at least 200 million dollars (some 155 million euros) this year, according to the company management.
The operator has invested nearly one billion dollars since entering Romania in 1997.
Orange's strategy for this year includes the develop
