Partner gains 41,000 new subscribers in Q2’09 (Israel)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Partner Communications has posted financial results for the three month period ended 30 June 2009. The telco posted 2.1% year-on-year increase in net profit, regardless of a drop in both revenue and operating profit. Partner posted a net income of ILS288 million (USD73 million) for the three-month period, up from ILS282 million a year ago, while revenue plunged 1.6% y-o-y to ILS1.514 billion and operating profit 2.9% against 2Q08 to ILS434 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 1.8% against the same period a year earlier at ILS574 million.

The telco gained 41,000 new subscribers on this quarter, taking its toal base to 2.94 million, of which it said 1.102 million were subscribed to 3G services. It also noted that average minutes of use (MoU) and average revenue per user (ARPU) had both declined compared to the same quarter a year earlier; it attributed the fall in ARPU to lower roaming revenue coupled with the switch from twelve-second billing intervals to one-second. David Avner, Partner’s CEO, said, ‘I am very satisfied with our operational and financial performance, which demonstrates our focus on the realisation of the company’s short-term objectives and long-term strategy.’