BELGRADE (Serbia), July 24 (SeeNews) - Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor said on Tuesday the operating profit of its Serbian unit rose 11% to 360 million Norwegian crowns ($58.9 million/48.8 million euro) in the first half of 2012.
Telenor Serbia's customer base increased by 22,000 during the second quarter to 3.13 million following continued high uptake of contract subscribers, partly offset by reduced prepaid subscribers. At the end of the quarter the subscription base was 2.0% higher than at the end of 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 13.7% to 522 million crowns through June while total revenues decreased 4.7% to 1.3 billion crowns.
The Norwegian group said capital expenditures in Serbia were lower over the review period, mainly due to the network modernisation last year.
Telenor's local wireless unit competes on the Serbian market of some 7.3 million people with Telekom Srbija's mobile arm, MTS, and VIP Mobile, a unit of Telekom Austria Group.
In Southeast Europe, Telenor Group also operates in Montenegro.
(1 euro=7.3818 Norwegian crowns)