The telco reached 6.61 million mobile subscribers in March
Swiss mobile operator Swisscom recorded 2.88 billion francs (about $3 billion) in revenues for the first quarter of 2016, down slightly compared to 2.89 billion francs in the same quarter last year. The telco’s Q1 net profit reached 364 million francs, up 3.7% from 351 million francs in the same period the previous year.
The operator’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the quarter totaled 1.08 billion francs, climbing 2.9% year-on-year. Swisscom said it ended March with 6.61 million mobile subscribers, up from 6.57 million at the end of Q1 2015. Swisscom’s overall capital expenditures totaled 425 million francs in the first quarter, up 9.5% compared to the same quarter in 2015. The company’s overall operation required capital expenditures of 596 million francs during the period.
“The market is becoming increasingly saturated and growth in areas such as mobile telecommunications is becoming more difficult. The expansion of the national infrastructure will continue to call for a very high level of investment,” said CEO Urs Schaeppi.
Swisscom said 98% of its customers are able to access LTE services. The operator initially launched LTE services in Switzerland in 2012, through spectrum in the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands. The Swiss firm also said it had connected around 3 million homes and businesses with broadband services offering speeds of more than 50 megabits per second.
The telco also provides broadband, fixed telephony and pay-TV services, as well as telecom services for residential and corporate customers in Italy through its Fastweb subsidiary. In Italy, the company ended Q1 with 2.24 million broadband customers, posting 117,000 net additions during the period.
For 2016, Swisscom expects net revenue of more than 11.6 billion francs, EBITDA of around 4.2 billion francs and capital expenditure of more than 2.3 billion francs. Swisscom is also setting up a nationwide network targeting the “Internet of Things” and expects the initial stage of the initiative to be ready by the end of the year. The low-power network forms the basis for the IoT strategy, which will target smart cities, energy efficient buildings, machine-to-machine networking and new digital applications.
Other mobile operators in the Swiss market include Sunrise and Salt.
