Republic of Serbia

A1 Serbia

In Serbia, the mobile market showed some maturity signs with declining subsidies at the beginning of the year. However, competition became slightly more intense in the second half of the year. Demand for unlimited voice and SMS tariffs with flat data allowances as well as for mobile WiFi routers increased compared to last year. With its redesigned portfolio concept “more for more”, Vip mobile offered higher data allowances for tariffs including hardware which led to stronger differentiation against SIM only tariffs. The government had initially imposed severe COVID-19 related lock-down measures with curfews in March, which were gradually lifted in May and became again stricter towards the end of the year. In December 2020, the government imposed new travel restrictions, requiring negative PCR test or 10-days mandatory quarantine for all incoming travelers.

Total revenues increased year-on-year (+0.8 %). Mobile service revenues rose despite roaming losses, driven by increased contract customer base and the demand for higher-value tariffs. A decline in equipment revenues was attributable to reduced equipment sales. Other operating income benefited from positive one-off effects of EUR 2.4mn in the reporting period, stemming from a settlement related to contractual obligations and revised future costs for asset retirement obligations. Costs and expenses were lower mainly due to reduced selling and marketing expenses as well as lower administrative expenses. In total, EBITDA grew by 5.0 % (+1.4 % excluding one-off effects), year-on-year and with stable D & A, operating profit increased by 18.6 %.

For further information, see Combined Annual Report 2020.