PODGORICA (Montenegro), July 24 (SeeNews) – Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor said on Tuesday the operating profit of its Montenegrin unit fell 39% to 59 million Norwegian crowns ($9.7 million/7.99 million euro) in the first half of 2012.
Telenor Montenegro's subscriptions increased by 21,000 to 422,000 in the quarter through June, mainly due to new prepaid subscribers as the summer season starts. At the end of the quarter, the subscription base was 3.0% lower than at the end of the second quarter last year, the parent company said in its half-yearly financial report.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before other items fell 28% to 87 million crowns through June while revenues dropped 8.0% to 264 million crowns.
On June 5, the Montenegrin parliament adopted a new law on taxation on SIM cards of 1.0 euro ($1.2) per SIM card per month for active subscribers. The law was effective as of July 7 and will be valid until January 2014.
Telenor's main rival in Montenegro is T-Mobile Crna Gora, owned by the Hungarian unit of Deutsche Telekom, Magyar Telekom. The third mobile operator in the tiny Adriatic state of some 620,000, m:tel, is owned by Serbian state-owned company Telekom Srbija.
(1 euro=7.3826 Norwegian crowns)