Bulgaria's top cellphone operator M-Tel, a subsidiary of Telekom Austria, reported on Wednesday a 11,7% increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2006, compared to the same period of last year.
M-Tel raked in EUR 141,8 M in revenues in January-March, as opposed to EUR 126,9 M in the same three months of last year.
Its operating profit in the first quarter was EUR 45,5 M, a 4,6% increase over the EUR 43,5 M reported for the same period of last year.
Average monthly revenue per user fell to EUR 9,9 in the first quarter of the year, from EUR 10.7 in the same period of last year, due to price cuts, which were offset however by an increase in voice traffic.
M-Tel added 180,000 new subscribers during the period, reaching close to 4,45 million users, including 1,66 million contract subscribers.
The operator's market share at end-March was 51,1% and declining steadily in the face of stiff competition from Bulgaria's other two cellphone operators - Globul and Vivatel.