OTE Group's revenues totaled EUR 929.0 million in Q1, up 0.1 percent, driven by growth in both Greek and Romanian fixed revenues, offsetting pressure in mobile.
In Greece, revenues rose 0.9 percent to EUR 685.4 million. The growth stemmed from continuing strong demand for broadband services.
The Group’s adjusted EBITDA was down 1.7 percent to EUR 304.1 million. In Greece, EBITDA was unchanged, yielding an adjusted EBITDA margin of 38.8 percent.
Adjusted Group profit after minority interests (excluding one-off items) stood at EUR 38.2 million in Q1, up 4.1 percent compared to Q1 2016.
Adjusted capex amounted to EUR 185.0 million in Q1, up 12.3 percent, reflecting investments in fixed-line operations in Greece and Romania, amounting to EUR 75.0 million and EUR 43.3 million, respectively. In Q1, the Group posted negative adjusted free cash flow of EUR 11.3 million, as anticipated, primarily reflecting the increase in capital expenditures. The Group’s adjusted net debt was EUR 0.6 billion at 31 March, down 33 percent compared to 31 March 2016.
The total number of OTE retail broadband subscribers rose by 19,000 to 1.655 million. The net additions represented 55 percent of total net additions in a market that experienced its slowest quarterly growth rate in over two years.
VDSL customers grew 33,000 in the quarter to 252,310 or 15.2 percent of OTE’s total retail broadband base, up sharply from 13.4 percent at 2016 year end. In Q1, the total number of TV subscribers increased by 2,000 to 505,000. While this modest increase largely reflects seasonal factors, pressure on consumer income is also impacting the growth in pay-TV subscriptions, resulting in a marked slowdown compared to recent quarters. To counter these factors, OTE said it successfully introduced alternative packs targeting specific customer segments. The number of landlines decreased 1.7 percent to 2.649 million.
In the mobile market, Cosmote revenues dropped 1.2 percent to EUR 273.5 million. Service revenue was down 1.8 percent percent year-on-year to EUR 217.9 million, a marked improvement from prior year trends. EBITDA still dropped 5.4 percent percent to EUR 86.9 million.
Data revenues rose by 19 percent in the quarter, rewarding Cosmote’s focus on providing coverage and speeds. Cosmote’s 4G/LTE and 4G+/LTE-A footprints now cover approximately 95 percent and 84 percent of the Greek population, respectively. About 50 percent of Cosmote’s data traffic now originates from 4G/LTE devices. The number of mobile subscribers was up 3.4 percent from a year earlier to 7.733 million. Blended ARPU for the same period was EUR 10.0, down 5.7 percent from Q1, largely due to pressure in the prepaid market. Blended AMOU dropped by 2.2 percent to 274 minutes, reflecting demand pressures.
