The company added that on an organic basis, excluding exchange rate effects, its revenues rose 3.7 percent in the April to June period, an improvement on rises of 2.6 percent and 0.8 percent in the previous two quarters. The company’s consolidated EBITDA for the quarter was up 5.5 percent on like for like terms to EUR 2.1 billion, attributed in part to the cost recovery plan launched a year earlier in Italy and in the third quarter of 2016 at its TIM Brasil unit. The group’s adjusted net debt came to EUR 25.1 billion at the end of Q2, some EUR 131 million less than at the end of March.
In its domestic market, Telecom Italia released first-half figures showing revenues up 3.4 percent year on year to EUR 7.5 billion, with EBITDA surging 5.6 percent to EUR 3.4 billion. Mobile revenues climbed 4.0 percent to EUR 1.9 billion thanks to a progressive improvement and stabilisation of market share and the constant growth in mobile internet and digital services. No overall customer figures were released but the company stressed that over 500,000 new mobile customers were added in the second quarter of the year, with ARPU growing 3 percent year on year to EUR 12.50.
In the fixed segment, the company’s first half service revenues in Italy dipped 0.8 percent to EUR 4.9 billion, another improvement on the contractions of 2.4 percent, 3.0 percent and 3.6 percent posted in the previous three quarters. Telecom Italia said the slight decline was wholly due to the fall in voice revenues, down EUR 162 million year on year, added to the reduction in regulated prices for some wholesale services, offset by a 14.2 percent year on year growth in broadband revenues, due above all to a 723,000 surge in fibre customers, bringing the number of retail accesses to 1.5 million and the total number of fibre accesses to 2 million.
