MOSCOW, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - Volgatelecom (RTS: NNSI) said Thursday that its net profits had increased 10% year-on-year to $82.5 million in 2005.
The Russian telecommunications company's earnings increased 14.7% to about $780 million, with 97.4% brought in by telecommunications services, its core business.
Sales profits grew by 12.6% to $220 million while EBITDA climbed 23% to $247 million.
The company's expenditures grossed $560 million in 2005, 14.7% more than the previous year, but its R&D investments dropped 25% to $191 million. Telephonic services accounted for 53% of total investment, whereas the share of high-tech telecommunications was 11.8%.
Volgatelecom introduced 495,000 new telephone numbers in 2005, bringing the total to 4.95 million. The digitalization ratio rose to 63.4%, up from 56.6% a year ago.