Hrvatski Telekom under pressure

The Croatian incumbent Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT) ended 2013 with 390,755 TV customers.

It also had over 1.2 million fixed line customers, 2.3 million mobile subscribers and 628,414 broadband retail access lines.

T-HT’s revenues in 2013 amounted to HRK7.04 billion (€919.45 million), down 6.8% on the previous year and strongly impacted by the economic downturn and significant regulatory changes resulting from harmonization with EU regulations during the year, particularly in the areas of roaming and termination prices.

However, revenue increases were seen in mobile broadband and TV services. T-HT’s net income in 2013 amounted to HRK1.44 billion, down by 15% on the previous year.

Commenting on the results, Davor Tomaskovic, president of the management board (CEO), said: Our results for 2013 announced today demonstrate that T-HT has maintained its leading position across all segments of the Croatian telecommunication market. The economic downturn and significant regulatory changes strongly impacted the 2013 performance.

“In order to reverse the declining trend in T-HT’s results and to ensure long-term value for shareholders, we plan to embark on significant investment in the development of the Group. We will intensify investment in infrastructure development and increased service quality while also identifying and exploiting regional business expansion opportunities. In order to strengthen our presence in the region, as well as potential acquisition opportunities we will also consider expanding our products and services in southeast European markets.

“T-HT is also undertaking further internal transformation to achieve a more flexible organization that is wholly focused on our customers and on constantly improving our product and service offering. We aim to establish a longer-term perspective for T-HT, our shareholders and employees – and we will need to take significant steps to do so.”