America Movil reported stronger revenue growth in the last quarter of 2016 but profits continued lower. Revenues rose 16.9 percent year-on-year to MXN 269 billion and were up 3.7 percent at constant exchange rates. Service revenues increased 0.7 percent, their best showing in the year, on the back of mobile data revenues up 11.7 percent. Mexico, Colombia, the US, Puerto Rico and Peru all showed their best result in at least four quarters, AMX said.
EBITDA was up 2.9 percent to MXN 65.7 billion, but fell 8.1 percent at constant exchange rates, hurt by the performance at Telekom Austria. Operating profit dropped 20.1 percent to MXN 25.8 billion. After financing costs of MXN 28.2 billion, the net result was a loss of MXN 6.0 billion compared to a profit of MXN 15.7 billion a year ago. Net debt increased to MXN 630 billion from 582 billion a the end of 2015, due in part to the weaker peso versus the dollar and euro.
America Movil ended the year with 281 million mobile subscribers, down 1.2 percent from the third quarter and 1.7 percent less than a year ago. In Q4 it disconnected 3.3 million, mainly low-activity prepaid customers after the implementation of stricter churn policies. In the postpaid segment, it registered net additions of 1.3 million clients in the quarter, led by growth in Brazil. In the fixed market, the operator added 608,000 revenue-generating units in the fourth quarter, ending the year with a total of 82.9 million. Broadband was the main growth driver with 504,000 new connections.
