Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Aug. 7 / Trend D.Azizov /
The subscriber base of the Uzbek operator of mobile communications Unitel (the Beeline trade mark), a subsidiary of Russia's VimpelCom JSC, has increased by 45 percent in the second quarter of 2013, the operator's press-service reported.
According to the report, the number of Beeline subscribers in Uzbekistan amounted to 10.202 million in the second quarter with an increase of the number of subscriptions over the year amounting to 3.171 million, or 45 percent.
Average bill per mobile subscriber per month (ARPU) increased by $ 0.3, while the minutes of usage per subscriber per month (MOU) totaled 472 minutes compared to 425 minutes in January-March.
"The Subscriber Activity in the second quarter increased significantly, in particular, MOU growth rate was at 11 percent. Given that there was no significant change in the average bill, one can conclude that the quality of communication has increased while the cost of services has reduced," the press service quoted Unitel CEO Andrew Safronyuk as saying.
According to Safronyuk, "it became possible through additional investment in equipment and expansion of communication channels as well as new profitable proposals made by the company."
In April-June, the company's capital investment in the network's development amounted to $35 million.
Revenues for the second quarter increased by 6.4 percent to $167 million compared to the first quarter. Revenue growth was at 88 percent compared to the same period in 2012.
EBITDA index grew by 140 percent to $ 108 million.
In 2006, VimpelCom completed the acquisition of Unitel, which is the second largest mobile operator in Uzbekistan, from the international consortium led by the Greek Germanos S.A., and bought the Uzbek GSM-operator Buztel, later joining their networks. In March 2009, the united Unitel and fixed-line network operator Buzton (a Golden Telecom subsidiary) launched commercial services under a single brand Beeline.
