The figures that Portugal Telecom today presented to the market, with the financial results of the first half, were above the expectations of analysts and show a positive evolution of the operator’s business, driven by international assets but also by the continued growth of the fixed network.
Profits increased in the first half to 264.5 million euros, and in the last three months they reached 164.2 million, an increase of 82.5%. In terms of operating revenues, the movement is also positive, with an increase of 17.1% in the last three months, to 1,909 million euros, when in the semester they totaled 3,682 million euros, growing only 13.8%.
In the statement sent to CMVM, the market regulator, PT also adds that EBITDA reached 1,297 million euros in the first half, growing 8.2% over the same period.
The increase in revenues from the fixed network and international operations, namely Vivo, Timor Telecom and Dedic, PT’s contact center and outsourcing business in Brazil, are pointed out by PT as the main drivers of the results obtained in the first six months of the year. Vivo’s accounts still contribute to these numbers, but as of the third quarter they will no longer be consolidated following the sale of the stake to Telefónica.
Although referenced by the operator, revenues in the fixed network rose by less than one percentage point in the first half, standing at 971 million euros, 0.6% more than in the same period last year. Meo’s ADSL and Triple Play services continue to be responsible for this increase, allowing to mitigate the rate of disconnections from the fixed network.
But this was a point to highlight in a semester when revenues from domestic operations decreased 2.3%, affected by the reduction in equipment sales and mobile termination rates that had an impact on all operators, to which are added lower revenue from customers at TMN.
In terms of number of customers, Meo exceeded 700 thousand customers and PT guarantees that it already has a 27% market share, being present in more than 70% of the operator’s retail ADSL customer base. In this area of ​​Internet connection via ADSL, 71 thousand new customers were conquered, reaching a total of 933 thousand service subscribers.
TMN gained 5,000 new customers in the last three months, now having 7,269,000 pre and post paid subscribers. The mobile operator was strongly affected by the financial situation, losing 19 million euros in customer revenues in the first half and 17 million euros in equipment sales compared to the same period last year.
Even so, non-SMS data revenues continued to grow and already represent 60.6% of total data revenues. In total, data revenues represented 24.2% of service revenues, 1.5% more than in the same period of the previous year.
