Telekom Austria reports fall in fixed-line revenue

Telekom Austria’s fixed-line business has recorded third quarter revenues of EUR469.9m, down 2.8 per cent year-on-year. EBITDA for the quarter decreased by 15.9 per cent compared with the previous year to EUR165.7m.

The telco said the decrease in EBITDA was down to lower revenues and higher operating expenses, which included exceptional costs of EUR19.7m due to the preparation and promotion of the UEFA EURO 2008 football tournament, the switch to MPEG-4 set-top boxes and consulting costs relating to the company’s ongoing restructuring programme.

Telekom Austria said the introduction of product bundles slowed fixed net access line loss by 53.5 per cent from 59,600 in the third quarter of 2007 to 27,700 in the third quarter of 2008. The number of access lines declined by 152,000 lines to 2.3 million at the end of September.

The number of broadband lines increased by 15.7 per cent to 835,300 including 68,900 wholesale lines at the end of September. The number of broadband net additions turned positive in the quarter to 8,900 after a decline of 1,600 the previous year.

ARPU, which mainly consists of revenues from voice, monthly rentals, broadband and IPTV service aonTV, dropped slightly in the quarter to EUR33 compared to EUR33.3 the previous year.