Telecom Italia reported first-quarter revenues up 10.3 percent from a year earlier to EUR 7.073 billion. The increase was due to the takeover of Telecom Argentina and positive results in Brazil; on an organic basis, sales fell 0.2 percent. EBITDA improved 3.6 percent to EUR 2.929 billion, while the margin dropped 2.7 points from a year ago to 41.4 percent. The group's net profit fell to EUR 549 million, from EUR 601 million a year earlier. Operating free cash flow was up by EUR 322 million compared to a year ago, to EUR 1.076 billion, while capex fell to EUR 901 million from EUR 1.042 billion. Telecom Italia reduced its adjusted net debt by EUR 846 million in the quarter to EUR 30.622 billion at the end of March. For the full year, the operator forecast stable organic revenues and EBITDA, based on a full year of consolidation of the Argentina unit, capex of around EUR 4.8 billion, and adjusted net debt of EUR 29.5 billion at year-end.
In Italy revenues fell 7.6 percent to EUR 4.596 billion, and EBITDA was down 8.8 percent to EUR 2.236 billion. The fixed-line activities in Italy posted a 4.8 percent drop in sales to EUR 3.331 billion. Access lines were done by 206,000 from the end of 2010 to a total 15.1 million, while broadband lines rose by 73,000 to 9.1 million, including 54,000 more wholesale lines to 1.9 million. The mobile customer base rose by 20,000 in the quarter to 31.0 million, with churn dropping to 5.5 percent from 6.4 in Q4. Mobile revenues fell 12 percent to EUR 1.679 billion, with services down 11.7 percent and hardware falling 22.4 percent. Telecom Italia said it expects an improvement in the second half, due to new fixed-line pricing launching in July and an end to mobile promotions started early this year.
