Fusión football takes off as Telefónica Q3 profits grow
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 31 October 2018

Depreciation of currencies against the Euro, in particular the Brazilian Real and Argentine Peso, may have had a negative impact, but comms giant Telefónica is calling its third quarter a success in terms of organic growth and profits.

For the third quarter of its current financial year ended 30 September 2018, the company posted revenues of €11.699 billion, down 8.3% on a reported basis compared with the same period in 2017 but up 2.7% annually in terms of organic growth. The resulted were boosted by what Telefónica called good evolution of service revenues, up 1.2%, and the 20.7% growth in handset sales.

OIBDA for the quarter fell 1.4% on a reported basis but grew organically by 4.1%.to total €4.038 billion and net profit for the third quarter increased 35.8% compared with the same period in 2017 to €1.139 billion.

In Q3, Telefónica saw growth in high value access driven by the strong demand for data, speed and content. Fibre (FTTx) and cable subscribers grew 21% y-o-y to 12.8 million and such connections now represent 59% of total fixed broadband accesses which themselves showed annual growth of ten percentage points. The company’s pay-TV business grew 6% annually to 8.8 million.

Telefónica España posted reported record figures in fixed and mobile portability, the highest mobile contract net additions in ten years and the highest fixed broadband net additions since its Fusión product was launched. Says that the spike in commercial activity was primarily related to high-value customers interested in the bouquet’s football content.

“Third quarter results reflect the solid execution of our strategic priorities,” commented Telefónica executive chairman José María Álvarez-Pallete. “To begin with, both high-value customers and their average revenue continued increasing, with a strong level of net additions in mobile contract (including the best figure for Spain over the last ten years), LTE, fibre and pay-TV. More and higher-value customers, coupled with stable churn rates, translates into higher business sustainability. If we add to that the wider coverage of our high-speed networks, the efficiencies we are already achieving in digitalisation and simplification, and the launch of Movistar Home via AURA, among others, we are further strengthening our future positioning.”