Megafon, Russia’s third largest mobile phone operator, has posted a 1Q 2009 Net Profit of 11.1 billion Roubles under U.S. GAAP.

The bottom line was up 20.2% year on year compared with the 9.2 billion Rouble Net result in 1Q 2008, with EBITDA rising 10.3 % to 20.9 billion Roubles, as Revenues climbed 11.7 % to 42.2 billion Roubles from 37.8 billion Roubles in 2008.

Megafon attributes the Net result to cost management together with hedging and rising yields from the allocation of free assets, with subscriber numbers now accounting for 22.8% of the market. Megafon CEO, Sergey Soldatenkov, hailed the figures as outperforming rivals.

“What’s important is that Net Profit in the first quarter increased by 20.2% year on year, showing far better results than other market players. The company remains one of the strongest in terms of its financial performance, which will enable us both to invest into the core business, and track possible further developments.”