In the third quarter of this year, Crnogorski Telekom continued its financial growth from previous quarters and recorded higher revenues, operating and net profit. In addition, the company recorded the highest growth in the residential postpaid and prepaid base on the market, with overall good results in the summer season, and consolidated the first position in postpaid and mobile internet.
“In the previous period, Telekom recorded the highest prepaid growth on the market – as of September, we had 19 percent more prepaid cards – which is a consequence of excellent results in the summer season.” In addition, we recorded the highest growth on the market in the postpaid segment for residential users – of as much as 13 percent – by which we consolidated the first place in terms of the total number of postpaid users, residential and business. In the end, the 17 percent increase in the number of optical users tells us that the expansion of optics that we implemented before the summer was more than the right decision”, emphasizes Stjepan Udovicic, CEO of Crnogorski Telekom.
Major modernization of the network and investment in new technologies are yielding results, so this year, according to official measurements, Telekom has the largest 4G and 5G network in Montenegro.
“When it comes to the 4G network, which we modernized in 80 locations in the country this year in record time, Telekom has the largest coverage of the populated territory of Montenegro – more than 97 percent of the population and almost 78 percent of the total territory of Montenegro is covered by our 4G network. At the same time, Telekom covered almost 70 percent of the population with the 5G network, as the first operator with the largest 5G network coverage in the territory of Montenegro. All of these are differentiators that attract users, because a strong and reliable infrastructure guarantees them a superior user experience in the network, whether they are in Montenegro for a visit and a tourist tour, or whether they work and live there”, said Udovicic.
At the end of September this year, Telekom had 281,000 active postpaid cards, which is nine percent more compared to the same period last year. The number of active prepaid cards was 154 thousand and was higher by 19 percent, and the number of mobile Internet users increased by 10 percent and amounted to 249 thousand.
When it comes to fixed services, the number of optical users increased by 17 percent and amounted to 32 thousand, while the number of TurboDSL users increased by five percent compared to the same period in 2021, and amounted to 35 thousand. An increase in the number of users of TV services by six percent was also recorded, while the number of users of broadband Internet services increased by two percent.
On the financial side, revenue growth of 4.8 percent compared to the comparable period last year is due to better results in the retail and wholesale services. Operating profit before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA), excluding special effects and after lease, in the first quarter of this year amounted to 22.2 million, which represents a growth of 2.5 percent, while the growth of the corporate tax rate had a significant negative effect on the net profit, through the calculation of tax depreciation, so the net profit amounted to 2.6 million.
Good financial and business indicators are the result of evaluation, redefinition and digitization of internal processes, which naturally improve the company’s business results, according to Telekom.
“One of the examples is our eTrust platform, the first and only fully digital solution for electronic signature and seal in Montenegro, which we use internally at Telekom in order to speed up and simplify processes. The eTrust platform won international recognition at Deutsche Telekom’s Global Security conference, in competition with 22 projects from the entire Deutsche Telekom Group, where aspects of innovation, value for users, digitization and efficiency, international cooperation, and project sustainability were evaluated”, concludes Udovicic, local media writes.
