Vodafone revenues down 17% due to recession, RON depreciation and competition

Vodafone, No. 2 on the Romanian telecom market, posted a 17.3% decline in service revenues in the first quarter (April-June) of its fiscal year, compared with 10.3% in January-March, as a result of the recession, the depreciation of the RON against the euro and the tough market competition, according to company officials. The number of clients rose by 3%, to 9.53 million against the similar period of last year. Vodafone has 10% more post-paid customers and 1% less clients on the pre-paid cards segment. However, the number of clients fell by 0.6% against March 2009. For the first time in the last few years, the decline also affected the number of subscribers, which slipped to 3.66 million in June, from 3.67 million in March. "Our financial results reflect the impact of the economic situation, which Vodafone is not immune to, as well as of the regulations that became effective during this time. The average revenue per user fell against the similar period of last year, because our clients started to restrict usage of communications services in view of improved cost control, in the context of the crisis," said Liliana Solomon, Vodafone Romania CEO.