Telecom Italia this week talked of returning stability to the Italian telco market in the first quarter, as growth in high-speed data services took the sting out of flat-lining legacy services.
Domestic consumer revenue came in at €1.7 billion in the three months to 31 March, down 1.4% on last year. However, the decline was much lower than the 11.7% revenue decline recorded in the first quarter of 2014.
"This recovery in performance can be attributed to the progressive stabilisation of the customer base and ARPU on traditional services, combined with the defence of market shares – particularly in the mobile segment – and acceleration of the development of broadband and ultrabroadband services," said Telecom Italia, in a statement.
The company is in the process of extending 4G and fibre network coverage as part of its multi-billion euro 2015-2017 capex plan. In the fi rst quarter, Telecom Italia’s fibre network coverage reached 8 million premises, while its 4G network now covers around 80% of the population.
Telecom Italia ended the quarter with 30.1 million mobile connections and 12.3 million fixed connections.
Despite some encouraging signs, the group still reported declines in overall first quarter sales and earnings. Telecom Italia’s revenue fell 2.6% on-year to €5.1 billion, while EBITDA fell 7.7% to €2 billion.
Net profit attributable to shareholders plunged to €80 million from €222 million in Q1 2014 largely due to Telecom Italia’s €2 billion bond buyback scheme.
Meanwhile, at its Brazilian business TIM Brasil, revenue fell 3.3% year-on-year to 4.5 million reais (€1.4 billion), driven primarily by a further reduction in mobile termination rates (MTRs). However, lower costs helped EBITDA to improve 1.6% to BRL1.3 billion.
TIM Brasil ended the quarter with 75.7 million mobile connections.
