Telefónica Spanish business showing signs of recovery
Spanish telecom giant Telefónica reported revenue of 11.87 billion euro ($13.14 billion) in the second quarter of 2015, climbing 12.4% vs. the year-ago quarter. The company’s net profits for the period reached 1.89 million euro, an increase of 70.4% year-on-year.
Telefónica Deutschland saw the highest growth in terms of revenue during the quarter, with 67.8%, followed by Telefónica’s operations in Spanish-speaking Latin America, with 10.6%. Telefónica’s revenue in Brazil expanded by 4.5% in the quarter, while the Spanish business declined by 1.1% year-on-year in Q2.
“It is worth highlighting the organic growth acceleration in the quarter, supported by the strong recovery in the Spanish business, reaching revenue stabilization in May and June for the first time since December 2009,” the company’s chairman, Cesar Alierta, said.
“It is also important to highlight the evolution of the business in Germany, which has started to deliver in the second quarter, just half a year after its incorporation, clear signs of the synergies resulting from such integration,” Alierta added.
The European telco ended June with a total of 323 million subscribers in its global operation. Mobile telephony subscribers amounted to 253.6 million at the end of Q2, up 12.4% year-on-year. In the 4G LTE segment, Telefónica reached 18.6 million subscribers at the end of the period, reaching a penetration of 7.6% in its overall mobile base.
Smartphone users reached over 99 million by the end of June, up 55.8% year-on-year.
The telco’s capital expenditures during the period totaled 3.41 billion euro, up 97.9% compared to the year-ago period.
BT Group’s fiscal Q1 revenue down 2%
In related EMEA news, BT Group posted revenue of £ 4.27 billion ($6.66 billion) in the first quarter ending June 30, down 2% vs. the year-ago period. BT’s operating profit for the period totaled £ 821 million, surging 5% year-on-year.
BT Global Services recorded revenue of £ 1.54 billion during the quarter, down 6% year-on-year, while BT Business’ revenue totaled £ 749 million, a decline of 2%. BT Consumer and BT Wholesale saw revenue in the quarter increase by 3% and 1%, respectively.
“We continue to invest heavily in our superfast fiber broadband network. It now reaches around 80% of all U.K. premises and we will work with government to help take fiber broadband to 95% of the country by the end of 2017,” the company’s CEO Gavin Patterson said.
“Our mobile plans have got off to a good start with more than 100,000 consumer mobile customers signed up in the first three months. We’re also looking forward to completing our acquisition of EE, which will allow us to create a true U.K. digital champion,” Patterson added.
BT has agreed to purchase U.K. mobile operator EE for $19 billion. BT currently offers wireless service through a MVNO scheme with EE.
EE is the largest mobile operator in the U.K., with 24.5 million customers and almost 8 million LTE subscribers. The company was formed in 2010 as a joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and Orange. The acquisition still requires regulatory approval.
