PJSC Ukrtelecom in January-September 2018 saw some UAH 449 million of net profit, which is 29.62% more than a year ago (UAH 638 million), Ukrtelecom CEO Yuriy Kurmaz said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

According to him, net income for this period decreased slightly - by 0.1%, to UAH 4.893 billion (UAH 4.888 billion in the first nine months ending September 2017).

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the nine months decreased by 7.3%, to UAH 1.331 billion, while EBITDA margin decreased by 1.8 percentage points, to 27.2%, including due to substantial government debt for categories of the population awarded with privileges and also due to a 12% increase in taxes.

According to Kurmaz, the reduction in net profit of the company was affected by the growth of resource taxes, negative fluctuations in the exchange rate and an increase in depreciation payments due to the commissioning of new equipment in the process of upgrading and developing the network.

In the third quarter (July-September 2018), Ukrtelecom saw a net profit of UAH 160 million, which is 43.5% less than in the same period of 2017 (UAH 283.27 million according to a report in the system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market). Net income for this period increased 2.7%, to UAH 1.644 billion (UAH 1.601 billion in the third quarter of 2017).

EBITDA in the third quarter fell by 7.7%, to UAH 502 million, while EBITDA margin decreased by 3.5 percentage points, to 30.5%.

He also said that at the end of the third quarter, the active base of the operator was more than 4 million telephone lines.

Ukrtelecom's revenue from telecommunications services in the third quarter of 2018 decreased by 0.7%, to UAH 1.371 billion, while private subscribers were provided services for the amount of UAH 879 million (an increase of 0.8%), business consumers - UAH 332 million (an increase of 3.4%); in the inter-operator segment in the third quarter Ukrtelecom's telecom revenues decreased by 18.4%, to UAH 129 million.

Revenues from telephony in the third quarter of 2018 decreased by 2.9% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 700 million, revenues from the Internet and related services increased by 8.9%, to UAH 415 million.

According to him, ARPU (average revenue per user per month) in telephony in the user segment in the third quarter of this year increased by UAH 8.30, to 52.20 UAH (excluding VAT), in the business segment - by UAH 1.30, to UAH 68.6 (excluding VAT). ARPU for Internet access in the user segment in the third quarter of this year increased UAH 12, to UAH 88.70 (excluding VAT), in the business segment - by UAH 28, to UAH 176.90 (excluding VAT).

Investments in the development of the company in the third quarter amounted to UAH almost 185 million, also for nine months ending September 2018, Ukrtelecom paid about UAH 1.5 billion of taxes and duties to budgets of all levels, of which about UAH 490 million in the third quarter.