Si.mobil, the second largest operator in Slovenia, increased its subscriber base by 5.1% to 580,300 customers at the end of September 2009 driven by a growth in contract subscribers of 11.6%.
Si.mobil increased its market share from 27.5% to 27.9% due to successful marketing activities. The mobile penetration rate in Slovenia was 102.4% at the end of 3Q 09 compared to 100.1% at the end of 3Q 08.
Higher usage and higher contract subscriber base partly compensate for lower prices & interconnection rates
ARPU decreased by 10.9% to EUR 23.0 primarily driven by lower termination rates and lower prices partly offset by a higher contract subscriber base and an increase in average minutes of use charged per subscriber, which rose by 9.5% to 139.8 minutes.
Lower and symmetric mobile termination rates impacted both revenues and EBITDA of Si.mobil
Revenues decreased by 4.0% to EUR 48.5 million during 3Q 09 mainly due to lower interconnection revenues resulting from the symmetry of termination rates with the incumbent introduced in April 2009 and lower equipment revenues.
EBITDA decreased from EUR 17.0 million in 3Q 08 to EUR 13. 7 million in 3Q 09 due to lower revenues partly offset by a reduction in operating expenses by 4.2%.
Operating income decreased from EUR 11.6 million in 3Q 08 to EUR 7.9 million in 3Q 09 due to lower revenues as well as higher depreciation and amortization charges.