Liberty Latin America (LLA) reported revenues of USD 3.77 billion in 2020 as a whole, down 3 percent year on year and strongly impacted by the effects on its business of the Covid-19 pandemic, above all at its Cable & Wireless (CWC) unit, and the appreciation of the US dollar in relation to the Chilean peso, affecting Chile's VTR/Cabletica. However, LLA said revenues surged 13 percent year on year to USD 1.10 billion in the final quarter of 2020 due to the addition of USD 174 million in revenue from its USD 1.95 billion acquisition of AT&T's assets in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, which was finalised on 31 October 2020, coupled with double digit growth from its legacy Liberty Puerto Rico operations.
LLA said mobile revenues declined 17 percent on a reported basis in 2020 due to lower subscription revenues as outbound roaming, recharge activity and subscriber numbers fell following lockdown restrictions. Inbound roaming revenue declined by USD 6 million year on year, with the largest impact in the Bahamas due to a reduction in tourism as a result of Covid-19. However, on a sequential basis, reported mobile revenue was 6 percent higher, driven by continued recovery in prepaid recharges as lockdowns eased.
The overall customer base across all units was up 1.7 percent year on year to 3.20 million, with total revenue generating units (RGUs) up 2.3 percent to 6.19 million. Liberty Puerto Rico registered its highest ever organic RGU additions of over 90,000 in the fourth quarter, up 70,000 year on year, driven by broadband demand. CWC Caribbean, meanwhile, added over 100,000 RGUs in 2020 as a whole, including 64,000 broadband adds, while in Chile VTR/Cabletica halved the number of subscriber losses in Q4 compared to Q3.
LLA said it continued to invest across its footprint in 2020, upgrading or passing approximately 400,000 homes, with over 80 percent using fibre-to-the-home technology. In 2021 it has plans to bring high-speed connectivity to more customers, aiming to upgrade or pass around 600,000 homes. It also intends to integrate its operations in Puerto Rico to create converged plans, and generate adjusted free cash flow over 30 percent higher than in 2020.
