The A1 Hrvatska telecommunications company generated €220.8 million in total revenues in the first half of 2022, an increase of 2.9 percent over the same period in 2021, while its EBITDA rose by 4.4 percent to €78.4 million, according to a financial statement published by its parent company, A1 Telekom Austria Group.

Despite the uncertain state of the global economy and a looming recession, as well as increased inflation in Croatia, A1 Hrvatska maintained the positive trends in business performance in the first half of the year, the statement said.

Further business consolidation and smarter investment, along with good core revenues from services, are the main reasons for the positive financial indicators, it added.

The company increased investment by 23.8% to €40.2 million, continuing to build and modernise the fixed-line and mobile infrastructure.

The number of households with fixed-line internet access increased by 5.5%, while ARPL (average revenue per line) fell by 2.9% to €31. The number of broadband users rose by 9.1%.

In the mobile segment, the number of users under contract increased by 7.2%, the number of pay-as-you-go customers fell by 6.0%, and ARPL went up by 1.8% to €10.3.

“I believe we can maintain the positive trends and continue investment because we carried out digital transformation and business consolidation in time. We remain focused on customer needs and rapid response. We were the first operator with a 5G network available to all private pay-as-you-go and subscription users,”  Goran Angjeleski, chief finance director at A1 Hrvatska, told state news agency Hina in a comment on the financial results for the first half of the year.

The company has connected more than 600,000 households to its fixed-line fibre-optic network and has continued to extend the network to cover 800,000 households.

“Over the next two years we will cover over 60% of households in Croatia, which means that nearly two in three households will have access to A1’s gigabit fiber-optic network as the basis for a digital society and economy. This will also help Croatia progress on the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI),” Angjeleski said.