Croatian telecom operator Vipnet, part of Telekom Austria, said on July 17 its EBITDA fell 15.2% y/y to €38.1mn in the first six months of the year impacted by radiofrequency fees and sales cost.

The company’s revenues inched down 0.6% y/y to €174.7mn in January-June, the company said in a statement.

“That is a great result having in mind the business environment, strong competition and adverse regulatory framework. In mobile segment we achieved growth of ARPU and number of postpaid customers. With further expansion of our fixed network for superfast broadband, we even managed to achieve double digit growth in fixed segment. This and our acquisition of Amis will further strengthen Vipnet`s position as the strongest alternative on the fixed market,” Vipnet CEO, Jiri Dvorjancansky said.

The number of mobile subscribers declined 4% to 1.76mn at end-June, mainly due to a decline in prepaid costumers. The number of fixed access lines rose by 14.3% to 237,800. The number of fixed broadband lines increased by 27.7% y/y, while the number of fixed voice services went up 15.5% on the year.

In the first six months of 2015, Vipnet invested €21.7mn, mostly in mobile and fixed new generation networks. In June, Telekom Austria announced it has agreed to acquire Amisco NV, the holding entity of telecom service providers Amis Slovenia and Amis Croatia. The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of the year.

On the Croatian market, Vipnet competes with T-HT (51%-owned by Deutsche Telekom) and Tele2 - the local arm of Swedish telecom company Tele2.