Liliana Solomon, CEO Vodafone Romania: “We cannot yet talk about a market recovery”

“At the end of a challenging year, in which the entire economy was impacted by the crisis, our results show a 20% drop in revenues compared to the previous financial year, following the downwards trend of the entire telecommunications industry in Romania. However, our efficiency oriented strategy helped us to maintain a high EBITDA margin, only 3% lower than last year. This allowed us to continue to invest significantly in Romania, a recent example being the launch of 3G services in the 900 MHz frequency. We are pleased that, in a year of economic downturn, we managed to contribute to the digitization of the country and to the future growth, offering our user a high speed mobile Internet network available at national level”, said Liliana Solomon, CEO Vodafone Romania.

Service revenue decreased by 20% year on year, for a total of EUR 891.4 million. Total revenue reached EUR 921.5 million, representing a decrease of 21% as compared to the previous financial year. On a quarterly basis, service revenue decreased by 10% in the three months ended March 31, 2010, compared to the previous quarter ended December 31, 2009, while the customer base increased by 67,000.

“Even if the revenue decrease rate has slowed down quarter to quarter, we cannot yet talk about a market recovery”, added Liliana Solomon.

Vodafone Romania is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc. Vodafone is the world’s leading international mobile communications group with over 340 million proportionate customers at 31 March 2010.