Previously, these results were driven by strong mobile and core fixed business despite the shift in System Solutions revenue due to a focus on high margin deals, the company explained.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 5.3 percent to HRK 2.883 billion, and Organic EBITDA AL (adjusted for Optima contribution) increased by 7.9 percent year-over-year, with the fifth consecutive quarter of EBITDA AL growth demonstrating continuation of strong positive commercial momentum and positive impact of transformation measures.

Net profit amounted to HRK 615 million, representing a 4.5-percent growth compared to 2020, with significant growth evident on a quarterly level as well, supported also by lower depreciation. 

“2021 was a very successful year for Hrvatski Telekom with solid revenue growth across residential and business segments, impressive recovery in visitors’ revenues, resulting in strong EBITDA growth and improving net profit while keeping our investments at high levels,” pointed out HT CEO Kostas Nebis.

Investments in the last five years amounted to over HRK 9 billion, with HT again investing more than the rest of the market combined. 5G rollout activities intensified during 2021, which resulted in HT 5G strengthening its leadership status as the biggest and fastest in Croatia, according to the company’s press release. They quadrupled the number of cities covered with 5G compared to 2020, almost doubling the population covered, to over 2 million. HT also points out that they continued to set industry standards by launching first ever 5G roaming services in 13 countries, while at the same time becoming the first in Croatia to demonstrate 5G network on 26 GHz frequencies.

Hrvatski Telekom continued to focus on building fiber-optic infrastructure across Croatia and further expanded its fixed network with a record rollout for 100,000 new households and businesses, with an increase in total FTTH coverage by a notable 30 percent year-over-year and two thirds of the newly built fiber connections in Croatia built by HT.

Nebis stated: “Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, we successfully achieved all our goals, and these remarkable achievements reflect our commitment to growing our business while supporting our customers. Looking into 2022, we are building on our solid foundations aiming to grow our company further, accelerating the digital transformation, investing in the integrated gigabit networks, further improving customer experience and employee engagement, creating even more value for our customers and shareholders while leading the digitization of the Croatian society.”

For the third consecutive year Hrvatski Telekom won the Ookla Speedtest award for the Best Mobile Network, as well as umlaut’s “Best in Test” award for the fourth time. HT was also acknowledged by umlaut as Best in Fixed Broadband, with this analysis based on over 760,000 samples collected from all fixed service providers in Croatia.