O2 profits dampened by coronavirus crisis

O2's profits in the Czech Republic for the first half of the year rose to CZK 2.6 billion, a 2.8 percent improvement over 2019. Turnover stagnated in the second quarter, however, as a result of the coronavirus crisis as revenues from roaming charges and from the sale of phones fell. The company allowed its customers to surf the Internet for free for nearly two months during the lockdown period to enable students and employees to transition to working and studying from home. O2's number of registered customers rose to 5.91 million as of the end of June, which was 43,000 more than at the beginning of the year. The number of O2 TV customers rose 33,000 to 476,000. In Slovakia, where the company has 2.1 million customers, operational turnover fell 3.7 percent to CZK 3.6 billion.