April 8 (SeeNews) - State-controlled Telekom Srbija's net profit soared 156% to 34 billion dinars ($314 million/290 million euro) in 2023, its CEO Vladimir Lucic said.
The company's revenue rose 37% to 164 billion dinars last year, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 78% to 88 billion dinars, Lucic told daily Politika in an interview on Sunday.
On consolidated level, Telekom Srbija's net profit reached a record-high of 49 billion dinars in 2023, Lucic said without providing specific data for an annual comparison.
He noted that the consolidated EBITDA was up 88% to 128 billion dinars, while consolidated revenue increased 41% to 230.7 billion dinars in 2023.
In addition, the company installed more than 2,000 4G base stations for a second year in a row in 2023, with its optical network covering 1.5 million households, Lucic said.
He added that Telekom Srbija is now present on 10 markets after expanding to Germany and Turkey last year. It plans to expand to the U.S. later in 2024.
The telecoms operator is ready to start offering 5G services with the European Investment Bank (EIB) being its strategic partner on this project, Lucic noted. The company's other strategic partner on the faster implementation of 5G and digital services is Vodafone.
In March, Serbia's telecommunications minister Mihailo Jovanovic said that the 5G auction will be launched by the end of 2024.
The government in Serbia controls 58.11% of Telekom Srbija, the company itself has a 20% stake, current and former employees own a combined stake of 6.94%, while the remaining 14.95% belong to individual shareholders.
(1 euro = 117.226 dinars)
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