Montenegro, Crnogorski Telekom recorded financial growth and higher revenues during last year

Published on 23. February 2023., News

Last year, Crnogorski Telekom recorded financial growth and higher revenues, as well as excellent results in the summer season, the company announced.

The company, as announced by its representatives, recorded the highest growth of the postpaid base on the market, as well as a growth of over 40 percent in prepaid.

“In addition, the company devoted the previous year to investments in the strategic development of the mobile and optical network, thanks to which Telekom today has the largest 4G and 5G network and the highest flow of Internet traffic in the mobile network in Montenegro, as well as 17 percent more users on the optical network,” it is stated in the announcement.

Today, Crnogorski Telekom held a new conference call with analysts and investors, where it presented the business results achieved during the past year to shareholders and interested investors.

The executive director, Stjepan Udovicic, said that the company recorded investments of EUR 15 million last year, of which they invested most in the development of mobile and fixed optical networks and the purchase of spectrum.

“Thanks to that, at the end of last year, according to official measurements, Telekom has the largest 5G and 4G network in Montenegro. Our 5G network is available to about 76 percent of the population in almost all Montenegrin cities. “In addition, Telekom leased the most 5G spectrum at the December auction, in which all three mobile operators participated, which created the conditions for the introduction of gigabit speeds in the mobile network,” Udovicic said.

One of the company’s priorities last year was the expansion of the optical network in those parts of Montenegro where Telekom did not have an optical infrastructure.

“Investments in fixed infrastructure not only led to an increase in the number of users of fixed services, but we also covered 11.5 thousand new users with optics. This is important, because optical users have fewer failures, achieve superior Internet speeds and have a fast and reliable wireless network for connecting multiple devices, which all leads to a better user experience,” explained Udovicic.

All that, as he assessed, along with constant work on managing the user experience, resulted in the growth of user satisfaction in all categories, so the company ended last year with the highest user satisfaction index on the market.
At the end of last year, Telekom had 286,000 active postpaid cards, which is nine percent more than the previous year. The number of active prepaid cards was 163 thousand, which is an increase of even 42 percent compared to 2021. There were 240 thousand mobile Internet users, that is nine percent more.

The number of optical users increased by 17 percent and amounted to 33 thousand, while the total number of broadband connections increased by three percent and amounted to 83 thousand. An increase in the number of users of TV services by six percent was also recorded, with a total of 87 thousand at the end of the year.

On the financial side, as explained by the company, the 5.1 percent increase in revenue compared to the previous year is due to better results in the retail and wholesale services.

Operating profit before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA), after lease and excluding special effects, amounted to 28.3 million at the end of the year, which represents a growth of 2.9 percent.

“The increase in the income tax rate after the implementation of the Europe now program had a significant negative effect on the net profit, through the calculation of tax depreciation, so the net profit last year amounted to 2.3 million, which resulted in a 23 percent lower result compared to the previous year “, specified from the company.

Last year, Crnogorski Telekom continued with the implementation of numerous technologically demanding projects that will significantly improve the provision of services to users and their experience in the Telekom network.

“Telecom’s technology sector continued its cloud transformation last year, so at the end of the year, all users of mobile voice services were migrated to the new cloud platform. This represents the first step in the development strategy of technological services, and the goal of the project is the consolidation of all voice services on the same platform and cloud environment, which achieves significant advantages in terms of development, operation and commerce. Last year, capacities were also expanded in order to improve the quality of roaming voice and Internet services,” Udovicic added.

Finally, eTrust – Telekom’s trust services are recognized as a very important digital service for the economy and citizens.
“Telekom received the Chamber of Commerce’s award for innovation for this platform, as well as Deutsche Telekom’s award, in competition with 22 projects from the entire DT Group. “All this gives us additional motivation to continue working on new ideas and solutions in order to justify the recognitions we receive in that area,” said Udovicic.

Overall, last year was the second year in a row in which Crnogorski Telekom is on the path of post-covid growth from year to year, growth based on investments and development of the company.

The end of a dynamic and business-successful last year was also marked by the beginning of a strike by part of the employees, which occurred after the interruption of the social dialogue in the company.

“Negotiations regarding the benefits for employees contained in the Collective Agreement were interrupted in the middle of November last year, after the leadership of the Union presented the company with ultimatums that they themselves know are unsustainable – salary increases of 48 percent or 30 percent, payment of winter leave regardless on business results, as well as the increase of all other benefits by certain percentages”, reminded Udovicic.

As he said, the management team and he personally hope to move the demands of the union.

Udovicic believes that, if the demands were brought within reasonable limits that were explained countless times during the negotiations, the strike of part of the Telekom employees could literally end in 24 hours.

“Ending the strike of part of the employees should be in everyone’s interest, and the management believes that everyone should make an extra effort in order to resolve the situation and to return part of the colleagues on strike to the work that awaits them,” concluded Udovicic.