Cosmote
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications S.A. | |
 |
|
| Type | Public (ASE: COSMO) |
|---|---|
| Founded | Athens, Greece (1998) |
| Headquarters | Athens, Greece |
| Key people | Evangelos Martigopoulos, Managing Director Elias Fotiadis, Chief Financial Officer Costas Liamidis, Commercial General Director Irini Nikolaidi, Legal Counsel, Competition and Legal Affairs General Director George Tsonis, General Technical Director Spyridon Mavrogalos, General Operations Director / General Operations Department |
| Industry | Mobile telecommunications & related Wireless services |
| Products | i-Mode, WHAT'S UP, COSMOKARTA |
| Revenue | €1.58 billion EUR (2004) |
| Operating income | €486.4 million EUR (2004) |
| Net income | €308.2 million EUR (2004) |
| Employees | 1,950 (2003) |
| Website | www.cosmote.com |
Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications S.A. (ASE: COSMO), took only 3 years, April 1998 to June 2001, to become the leading mobile phone operator in the Greek market. It is the only 3rd entrant to achieve 1st place in its market. Currently it has more than 4.5 million customers in Greece with the leading market position and also has presence in 3 other Balkan countries: owning the leading mobile operator in Albania (AMC), managing OTE's mobile assets in Bulgaria (Globul) and in the Republic of Macedonia (Cosmofon). The Company in 2004 generated over 1.58 billion euro in revenues and 308 million euro in net profit. Both the Company's EBITDA margin (above 42%) and net profit margin (above 19%) remain consistently among the highest in Europe. In addition, Cosmote has expanded its operations in B2B and B2C services through its participation in CosmoONE and COSMO-MEGALA KATASTIMATA respectively.
Contents |
[edit] Corporate History
[edit] Years 1998 - 2003
Cosmote started its commercial operations in April 1998 with the aim to make mobile telephony accessible by all Greeks through the provision of advanced yet friendly mobile telecommunications and related wireless services. To date the company is the leading provider of mobile telecommunications services in Greece. Cosmote had its Initial Public Offering in early October 2000. Since its IPO, the Company's share showed one of the best performances among all listed telecommunications companies in Europe. It is noted that Cosmote ranks among the best mobile operators in Europe for 2004, according to the announced financial results of all listed European companies in the sector (based on the following ratios: EBITDA margin, Net Income margin, ROIC, ROE, etc).
Today Cosmote is licensed to operate in both 900 and 1800 frequencies, with a spectrum of 2x30 MHz. In addition, during August 2001, Cosmote acquired one of the three UMTS licenses that were awarded in Greece. At the end of year 2004, the Company's telecommunications network consisted of 2,800 BTSs, while it distributed its products & services through an extensive sales network, consisting of approximately 2,000 points of sale. Since January 2001, Cosmote has installed a nationwide GPRS network which allows data transmission with enhanced functionality and speed. In addition to its standard and enhanced GSM 900 and 1800 services, including international dialling and roaming, the Company offers its customers a number of value-added services, including voice mail, short message services (SMS), multimedia messaging services (MMS), call diversion and caller identification, etc. Certain value-added services offered to its business customers, such as the data and fax transmission service Private Wire and VPNs, are charged on the basis of an additional monthly access fee plus airtime rates for use of the relevant service. Cosmote has as of September 2000 integrated all its information services and mobile commerce services under a common umbrella, its mobile portal, MyCosmos which in June of 2003 was expanded with the introduction of its new and innovative interactive proposition, MyCosmos View. In May 2004, Cosmote launched commercially its 3G services, introducing for the first time in the Greek mobile market Video Streaming, a service that allows them to enjoy lengthy videos of unique quality and at high speed. Cosmote's range of 3G services also features Video Calling, a service through which Cosmote customers can see the person they are talking to while making a call, in real time. In June 2004, Cosmote began offering exclusively to the Greek mobile market, i-mode, the world's most popular mobile Internet service. The launch of Cosmote's i-mode comes as a result of the close cooperation with its partner NTT DoCoMo, the leading mobile operator in Japan. i-mode is an "excitingly simple" new experience for all, offering Internet services over the mobile phone. i-mode is essentially a very simple and user friendly service that allows customers to easily access, at high speed, an extensive variety of thematic content as well as applications such as e-mail, at very affordable prices while made available on state of the art, easy to use handsets that include the latest features and are provided exclusively by Cosmote. i-mode enables Cosmote customers to have access to a colorful and fascinating world of information and entertainment created by the i-mode sites. Cosmote launched [[i-mode[[ with over 100 official Greek and international i-mode sites while by the end of 2004 the Company was offering access to 155 official i-mode sites.
Cosmote has extended its activities in the Balkans with the purchase of 85% of the Albanian Mobile Communications company (ΑΜC), the leading mobile operator in Albania. ΑΜC is one of the most profitable mobile companies in the sector, with an EBITDA margin of over 57%. A significant development of the past year has been the agreement with OTE to acquire its subsidiaries Globul and Cosmofon, an agreement naturally resulting from Cosmote's successful management of the two companies since January 2003. This development was part of the strategic planning of OTE Group and Cosmote for geographical expansion in the South Eastern European region, and particularly in markets with significant growth potential. As part of this strategy Cosmote intends to extend its footprint into the Romanian mobile market through the relaunch of COSMOROM.
[edit] Year 2004
At the end of December 2004, the Company's subscriber base has exceeded 4.15 million customers, with an estimated market share over 37%. More specifically Cosmote is the leading provider of services to contract subscribers in Greece since March 2000, with a total market share (as of 31.12.2004) close to 43%. As of December 31, 2004, Cosmote had approximately 2.5 million pre-paid customers. Based on management estimates and publicly available information, as of December 31, 2004 mobile penetration stood at approximately 101%. In addition, at the end of 2004, the Company's subsidiary in Albania, AMC had 639 thousand customers.
Consolidated financial results for the twelve months ended December 31, 2004, reaffirmed Cosmote's consistent and strong profitability. Total consolidated revenues for 2004 reached EUR 1,587.8 million, representing an increase of 17% as compared to year 2003. More importantly profitability, as expressed by EBITDA, rose by 17.1%, reaching EUR 674.5 million, while EBITDA margin stood at 42.5%. Cosmote's Net Income (on a consolidated basis) reached EUR 308.2 million while Net Income margin stood at 19.4%.
[edit] International footprint - Cosmote's mobile assets
Cosmote operates in 4 countries in Southeast Europe besides the Greek market: in Albania through its 82.5% subsidiary AMC, in Bulgaria through its 100% subsidiary GloBul, in FYROM through its 100% subsidiary Cosmofon, and in Romania through its 70% subsidiary Cosmote Romania. As of 2006 the Cosmote Group is implementing a new common corporate identity to all of its subsidiaries with a common logo and the wording "Cosmote Group" added to all of its subsidiaries' names. The new corporate identity was first introduced on Cosmote Greece and Cosmote Romania, later on AMC and finally on Globul. The new corporate identity is yet to be implemented to Cosmofon which should happen in the coming months.
[edit] AMC
Cosmote started its expansion abroad with the acquisition of 85% of the Albanian Mobile Communications company (through its 97% owned subsidiary COSMO-HOLDING ALBANIA). AMC which has operated since 1996, was the sole provider of mobile telecommunications in Albania until February 2001. Today, AMC's network operates in the GSM 900 as well as the DCS1800 frequencies. AMC is the leading operator in Albania with its customer base exceeding 730 thousand. AMC's contribution to Cosmote's group financial results both to its consolidated revenues and its EBITDA, exceeds 7%, while its EBITDA margin exceeds 57%, among the highest in Europe.
[edit] GloBul
In August 2005, Cosmote completed the acquisition of 100% of the shares of GloBul (Cosmobulgaria Mobile Ead), the mobile operator in Bulgaria, from OTE. GloBul operated under the management of Cosmote since 2003 following an agreement made with OTE and OTE International Investments Ltd.. GloBul holds the second of the three mobile licenses in Bulgaria and launched its commercial activities in September 2001, while recently it was granted a 3G mobile license and a fixed line service license. As of August 30, 2006 GloBul had 2.6 million subscribers in total (compared to 1.0 million as at December 31, 2003), representing a market share of approximately 37%. Globul has an estimated 60% share of net additions in 2005. The total contract customer base was 641,736 customers while pre-paid customers were 1,294,390.
[edit] Cosmofon
In August 2005, Cosmote completed the acquisition of 100% of the shares of OTE MTS HOLDING BV, a Dutch holding company, which owns 100% of the shares of Cosmofon (mobile operator in FYROM). Cosmofon operated under the management of Cosmote since 2003 following an agreement made with OTE and OTE International Investments Ltd. Cosmofon launched its operations in June 2003 as a second mobile telephony operator in FYROM. At the end of the first half 2005 and after 24 months of operation, Cosmofon had 329,622 subscribers in total, representing a market share of approximately 29%. It is noted that at the end of 2004 mobile penetration in the market of FYROM reached approximately 49%.
[edit] Cosmote Romania
In July 2005, Cosmote completed the participation by 70% in the capital of the Romanian mobile operator Cosmote Romania (former Cosmorom). Cosmote Romania launched commercial operations in December 2005. Romania is a market with strong potential, given the low penetration of the mobile telephony and the robust economic growth. Cosmote Romania will follow a customer centric philosophy with the aim of providing innovative services of the highest quality at competitive prices as well as the roll out of an advanced telecoms network at record time to secure seamless services to the entire Romanian population.
[edit] Network Design, Development and Operation
Cosmote's network has been expanding very rapidly since it commenced its operations back in 1998. The fundamental elements of the radio-network are its base stations (BTS), constituting the communications interface between the user's device and the network. These base stations are equipped with the necessary signal transmission and reception systems (antenna systems), and through the transmission systems they are interconnected with the remaining centers of the network, i.e. control centers (ΒSC) and switching centers (ΜSC).
[edit] Key financial figures 2003 - 2004
| Amounts in: | euro | Million |
| (except share and per share data) | ||
| INCOME STATEMENT DATA | 2003 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|
| Total operating revenues | 1,357.2 | 1,587.8 |
| Total cost of sales and services provided | 564.7 | 691.1 |
| Gross profit | 792.5 | 896.7 |
| Operating income | 414.3 | 486.4 |
| EBITDA | 576 | 675 |
| EBITDA Margin | 42.4% | 42.5% |
| Income before provision for income taxes and minority interests | 408.8 | 481.7 |
| Income before minority interest | 258.9 | 314.5 |
| Net income | 252.9 | 308.2 |
| Net income margin | 18.6% | 19.4% |
| Net income per share | 0.77 | 0.93 |
| Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 330,129,312 | 330,594,890 |
