América Móvil SAB, the largest mobile-phone carrier by customer base in the Americas, said it ended 2011 with 300 million total customer connections, including 242 million wireless subscribers across its markets.
During the final three months of last year, the company posted total revenues of $14.2 billion, which was a 12.3% increased compared with the final quarter of 2010. Wireless revenues, which increased 15.4% year-over-year, accounted for almost two thirds of the company’s total revenues for the quarter. For the full year, América Móvil reported an 8.7% year-over-year increase in revenues to $52.02 billion.
While revenues were up, net income droped both in the quarter and for the full year, 36.2% and 9.6%, respectively. The company blamed the shortfall on higher debt payments and a weaker currency offset. In its financial report, América Móvil noted that fourth quarter net income “came down as the depreciation of the peso in the last quarter and the increase in net debt that took place throughout the year to fund the acquisition of stock of Telmex, Telmex Internacional, Net Serviços and StarOne as well as our own stock repurchases brought about an important increase in our comprehensive financing costs.”
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América Móvil did posted a 13% increase in gross wireless subscriber additions in the fourth quarter compared with the previous year, hitting a record in Brazil with nearly 10 million gross additions and continuing strong in Mexico with 9.1 million gross additions as it continued to make inroads in the postpaid segment across all operations.
Mobile data revenues increased 27% during the quarter and fixed broadband revenues were up 15%, while PayTV revenues exhibited a 48% annual increase.
During the fourth quarter, América Móvil launched a tender offer for all the outstanding shares of Telmex that the firm did not own, representing approximately 40% of its stock. As of Jan. 31, América Móvil owned 95.17% of Telmex.
The company’s Telcel operations in Mexico also entered into an agreement with four other operators that sets forth a 25% reduction in mobile termination rates through 2014.
América Móvil also acquired complete ownership in Digicel Honduras, which provides wireless telecommunications services in Honduras. As part of that transaction América Móvil agreed to sell is operation in Jamaica to an affiliate of Digicel Group Ltd.
The carrier also began operations in Costa Rica during the fourth quarter, offering mobile voice and data services throughout the country.
Operations
In Mexico, América Móvil noted it has adopted a more conservative reporting methodology for wireless subscribers. It reduced the churn period to effectively report as active subscribers only those prepaid clients who have made an air-time recharge over a given period. The move resulted in 2.3 million disconnections and taking its wireless subscriber base to 65.7 million, a 2.4% increase compared with the previous year.
Operations in Mexico generated $5.33 billion in total revenues, which was a 3.4% increase compared with the previous year. Wireless services accounted for 60% of revenues in Mexico.
In Brazil, América Móvil ended the year with 60.4 million wireless subscriber, which was a 16.9% increased compared with the end of 2010. The carrier said it added 597,000 postpaid customers during the fourth quarter, pushing that segments total customer base to 2.4 million customers. The company’s fixed-line platform ended the year with 23.6 million connections, an increase of 26.8% relative to 2010, while its pay TV service added 846,000 customers in the quarter and ended the year with nearly 10 million clients.
Fourth quarter revenues in Brazil increased 6.3% year-over-year to $3.41 billion. Wireless service revenues (after commissions paid to distributors) increased 4.6% and fixed-line revenues, which account for 52% of the total, grew 7.8%. Mobile data revenues increased 28.6%, fixed broadband revenues were up 15.6%, and pay TV revenues surged 83.9%.
The combined operations of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay added 621,000 connections during the quarter and finished the year with 20.7 million wireless subscribers, 5.6% more than in 2010. Revenues increased 17.4% year-over-year for the quarter to $736 million.
In Colombia, América Móvil said it ended the year with 28.8 million clients, a 1.5% drop for the year. Its fixed-line platform grew 18.8% to 3.5 million connections, while its broadband customer base increased 42.5% year-over-year.
Fourth quarter revenues in Colombia increased 18% annually to $1.35 billion, with wireless revenues increasing 16.1% thanks to a 29.1% increase in data revenues. Fixed-line revenues increased 25.7%, mostly on the back of voice revenues. Total revenues for 2011 were $4.9 billion, up 14.5% year-on-year.
In Chile, América Móvil said it added 176,000 customers in the fourth quarter, pushing its full-year total to 666,000 subscriber additions. The carrier ended the year with 5.5 million wireless subscribers on its Chilean network, which was a 13.7% increased compared with the end of 2010. América Móvil also noted that nearly 30% of its customer base were on contract plans at the end of 2011.
Revenues for the quarter were up 14.7% year-over-year to $304 million, with wireless revenues representing just over two-thirds of total revenues.
In Peru, América Móvil said it finished 2011 with 11.3 million wireless subscribers; 16.2% more than at the end of 2010, with the postpaid base increasing 51.4%. On its fixed-line platform, connections soared 58.3% for the year to 690,000 connection, with voice accesses more than doubling over the period.
Check out the full report here.
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