Telecom Italia this week reported its first full-year net profit in three years and issued €2 billion worth of bonds to fund its capex plan.
In 2014 the Italian incumbent swung to a €1.35 billion net profit from a loss of €674 million in 2013, when it incurred a €2.19 billion impairment charge.
"The 2014 results show that the choice to invest in our future is proving to be a winning one," said Telecom Italia CEO Marco Patuano, in a statement.
Full-year revenue came in at €21.57 billion, down from €23.41 billion a year ago, while EBITDA fell to €8.79 billion from €9.54 billion. The figures were unchanged from the preliminary results Telecom Italia published in February.
Looking regionally, Telecom Italia’s domestic revenue fell to €15.30 billion from €16.39 billion; its Brazilian business saw revenue decline to €6.24 billion from €6.94 billion.
Nevertheless, Patuano said Telecom Italia "is moving in the right direction," and that he has witnessed a "positive business trend in the first months of 2015."
For the coming year, Telecom Italia said it expects another, albeit slower, decline in revenue at its domestic business as new online services partially offset the continuing fall in traditional services. In Brazil the telco expects modest growth driven by maturation in the mobile market, migration by customers away from voice and SMS services, and lower mobile termination rates (MTRs).
In a separate announcement on Friday, Telecom Italia announced it has issued bonds worth €2 billion.
Due to mature in March 2022, the proce eds will help the operator fund its 2015-2017 capital expenditure plan.
The next three years will see Telecom Italia spend €14.5 billion to upgrade and extend its network infrastructure in Italy and Brazil.
