Greek OTE May Sell Bulgaria's Unit Globul - Report

Greek telecommunication group Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, known as OTE, is considering the sale of one of its units in Albania, Bulgaria or Romania to fund debt-servicing, Greek newspaper Naftemporiki reported.

OTE funding deficit ranges between EUR 500 M and EUR 700 M, according to the report.

The Greek company is expected to map out its cost-cutting measures by the end of the first half.

Bulgaria's second-biggest mobile operator Globul is the trademark under which Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile EAD offers mobile telecommunications services in Bulgaria. The company is 100% owned by Cosmote, OTE?s mobile phone arm.

As indicated in OTE Group's 2011 financial results, Globul's postpaid customer base increased by 13.3% year-on-year in Q4'2011, reaching 2.6 million, corresponding to over 60% of the total customer base.

Globul total revenues declined by 0.8% in the last quarter of 2011, compared to the same period last year, as the strong performance on handsets sales could not fully compensate for the lower service revenues.

Following the trends of the previous quarters, the fourth quarter of 2011 has been quite challenging for the telecom sector, with domestic demand remaining subdued due to tight consumption and stagnating incomes.

Fierce competition has led to continuous erosion of the retail prices mainly in the corporate segment and the market has approached saturation with estimated penetration of 147%, according to the company.

Total revenues for 2011 reached EUR 412.5 M, or 2.6% lower than 2010.

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