Bulgaria
It's your Voice. Mtel
In July 2005 the Telekom Austria Group acquired a 100% stake in Mobiltel, the leading Bulgarian provider of mobile communications services, and successfully completed the integration process in 2006. In Bulgaria Mobiltel is the leading mobile communications operator with a market share of 50.3%. The company was able to take excellent advantage of market dynamics in 2007.
At year-end 2007 the mobile penetration rate rose to 132.8% as a consequence of several Sim cards per customer, compared to 105.9% in the previous year. In 2007 Mobiltel increased its subscriber base by 19.5% to 5.1 million customers, but at the same time its market share fell from 52.5% to 50.3% due to the very competitive market environment. There was a gain of 830,000 new subscribers in 2007 and the contract customer share rose from 36.8% to 42.1%.
Mobiltel was able to score in 2007 due to the introduction of new products and services, such as the expansion of the Vodafone-live! portal, the first Quick-Pay-Services and its existing Vodafone Mobile Connect Card. In addition, with the roll-out of HSDPA/HSUPA technology to complement WiMAX, Mobiltel's leading market position in Bulgaria was strengthened and data usage increased.
