Spanish telecommunications provider Masmovil, the country’s fourth largest network operator, has reported net revenues of EUR 351.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2017, up 17 percent year on year, with quarterly recurring EBITDA rising to EUR 69.7 million on a reported basis compared to EUR 28.7 million year earlier. The company also turned to profit, with full-year net income climbing to EUR 96.9 million for the year compared to a EUR 36.6 million loss a year earlier. Full-year net revenues were up 16 percent to EUR 1.30 billion, with the recurring EBITDA margin rising to 18.3 percentage points from 10.6 percent in 2016 and capex doubling to EUR 221 million, mostly focused on the continued rollout of its 4G and fibre networks.
In that regard, Masmovil confirmed that it had reached an extension to its national roaming and FTTH co-investment agreement with Orange Spain. The new deal expands the shared fibre agreement reached in July 2016 and the national roaming and site sharing deal signed in October 2016, allowing Masmovil to triple the number of homes reached by its own FTTH network to 6.5 million over the next two years at a co-investment cost of EUR 330 million. The company hopes to reach 5.1 million of its own FTTH homes by the end of this year, and nearly 14 million including Orange’s network. Masmovil also has the option of sharing up to 5,600 Orange-owned mobile sites, allowing it to effectively double its mobile network.
The company announced that it ended the year with 5.5 million customers, up 25 percent year on year, including 504,000 fixed line clients, having increased its total base by 946,000 in the 12-month period, double its original estimate. Masmovil was keen to emphasise that 78 percent of mobile customers are on a postpay plan and that it increased its postpay customer base by 564,000 in 2017 alone to reach 3.9 million. The company also led Spain’s portability rankings in 2017, achieving net gains of 400,000 customers.
Looking ahead, it estimated a net increase in total subscribers of over 800,000 in 2018 as well as a 10 percent rise in service revenues and capex of EUR 305 million.
