Hungarian telecoms group Magyar Telekom, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, posted a 3.4% year-on-year drop in EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2022 to HUF62.7 billion (USD174.3 million), as supplementary telecommunication tax introduced in Hungary coupled with inflationary pressure on other costs offset improved gross profit. Group revenue grew by 3.6% y-o-y to HUF199.2 million in the October-December period, thanks to continued strong demand for mobile data coupled with further increases in fixed broadband revenues. The company reported a quarterly net profit of HUF16.9 billion, down from HUF18.8 billion in 4Q21.
Magyar Telekom highlighted that 370,000 additional premises passed by gigabit fixed broadband access during 2022 took its total fixed gigabit coverage to over 3.4 million premises across Hungary by the year end. In the mobile segment, considerable progress was made in a RAN modernisation programme, with 60% of its base stations in Hungary modernised by the end of 2022; at its subsidiary in North Macedonia a similar programme has been fully completed.
Magyar Telekom predicted 5%-10% growth in EBITDA and revenues for 2023, while CEO Tibor Rekasi noted: ‘We expect continued pressure on our profitability from the challenging economic environment, particularly from energy cost pressures and increasing vendor costs.’