MOSCOW, April 5 (RIA Novosti) - Rostelecom [RTS: RTKM] said Thursday its net profit, calculated to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), declined 20.4%, year-on-year, in 2006, to 7.19 billion rubles (about $276.3 million).
Russia's national long-distance telecommunications operator said its earnings in the reporting period climbed 49%, to 60.03 billion rubles (about $2.3 billion).
Rostelecom, a subsidiary of Russia's state-run telecoms giant Svyazinvest, attributed the growth of its earnings to increased revenues from the provision of inter-urban and international communications due to new rates introduced from January 1, 2006.
At the same time, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) decreased 24.3% in the reporting period, to 11.05 billion rubles (about $424.8 million), due to increased expenses resulting from changes in the system of mutual settlements, the company said.
