UPDATE: Polish Polkomtel '08 Net Profit +0.2% At PLN1.36 Billion

Poland's mobile operator Polkomtel SA said Thursday its 2008 net profit rose by 0.2% on the year to 1.36 billion ($365.3 million).

Polkomtel said its revenue rose by 8.8% on the year, to PLN8.48 billion, while its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose by 9.7% on the year, to PLN3.1 billion.

In 2009, Polkomtel forecast a 6% to 7% fall in total revenue, the company's chief executive, Jaroslaw Bauc, said, but refused to give any net profit forecasts.

Bauc also didn't indicate any dividend level.

The close-to-zero rise in the full-year net profit resulted from lower than expected fourth-quarter profit, at PLN175.2 million, from PLN340.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Bauc attributed this to Polkomtel having to make "mandatory provisions for so-called public services."

As the dominant telephone operator, Telekomunikacja Polska SA (TPS.WA) is obliged to invest in nonprofit infrastructure in less developed parts of the country, especially in the countryside.

"That was the regulator's order," he said. "The independent operators need to compensate Telekomunikacja Polska for building a noncommercial network."

Polkomtel is an unlisted company. Its shareholders are copper producer KGHM Polska Miedz SA (KGH.WA), PKN Orlen SA (PKN.WA), Vodafone Group PLC (VOD), each with 24.39% stake; power grid PGE Polskie Sieci Elektronergetyczne, with 21.81% stake; and coal trader Weglokoks, with a 4.78% stake.

-By Malgorzata Halaba, Dow Jones Newswires; +4822 528-6787; malgorzata.halaba@dowjones.com

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