GLOBUL EXPANDS POSTPAID CUSTOMER BASE BY 11% IN Q2 2011

GLOBUL’s postpaid customer base increased by over 11% from Q2′ 2010, reaching a total of 2.4 million, or over 60% of total customer base. As of the end on June 2011, GLOBUL’s total customer base exceeded 4 million, 2.1% higher than in Q2 2010.

Following the trend of past quarters, the second quarter of the year has been quite challenging for the telecom industry, with a continuously adverse macroeconomic environment resulting in further drop of consumer spending.  Fierce competition has led to continuous erosion of the retail prices in the corporate segment and the market has reached saturation with an estimated penetration of some 140%.

GLOBUL’s mobile data services recorded a significant increase vs. Q2’2010, with the subscribers’ base growth at over 180%. Fixed line services also continued their strong growth in Q2’2011, with the subscriber base reaching almost 180,000 customers. Migration of prepaid customers to postpaid through innovative offers has continued, though less intensively than in 2010, and this has led to a decrease in the prepaid customer base.

Service revenues declined by 6.6% in Q2’2011, mainly due to lower interconnection rates and intense competition in the business postpaid segment.

Despite the challenging business environment, GLOBUL & GERMANOS managed to reduce the cost base by over 2.5% compared to Q2’2010 through consistent cost rationalization initiatives focusing primarily on distribution, advertising, billing and administrative expenses.

As a result of the above measures, Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) decreased by 6.8% compared to Q2’2010, while the EBITDA margin is 1 pp lower than prior year.

Average usage per customer continued to grow with blended AMOU for Q2′ 2011 at 151.8 min, or over 13% above Q2′ 2010, while blended ARPU for Q2′ 2011 has reached BGN 15.7, or 10% below the same period of the previous year.

Summary Financial Results for GLOBUL & GERMANOS for the 3 and 6 months ended June 30, 2011 & 2010.*

*Total figures are after COSMOTE intragroup eliminations.