Telefonica reported revenues for the first nine months of 2011 up 5.4 percent from a year earlier to EUR 46.67 billion. Revenues in its home market Spain were down 7.0 percent to EUR 13.06 billion, and revenues at Telefonica Europe dipped 0.4 percent to EUR 11.53 billion, while revenues in Latin America jumped 18.0 percent to EUR 21.53 billion, thanks to the takeover of full control of Vivo. Organic growth was just 0.2 percent, as termination rate cuts took an estimated EUR 638 million off revenues. Telefonica maintained its full-year forecast for up to 2 percent organic revenue growth. The company's OIBDA fell 4.5 percent to EUR 14.25 billion, and the margin dropped to 30.5 percent from 46.0 a year ago. The underlying margin was 35.8 percent, and Telefonica expects a result in the 'high 30s' for the full year. Net profit tumbled to EUR 2.73 billion from EUR 8.94 billion a year ago. That included EUR 2.67 billion in restructuring charges for job cuts, mainly in Spain. The charges led to a net loss of EUR 429 million in the third quarter. Free cash flow for the nine months improved 11.6 percent from a year ago to EUR 5.70 billion, while capex was down 8.5 percent to EUR 6.63 billion. Telefonica still expects full-year capex at a maximum EUR 9 billion. The company's customer base approached 300 million access lines at the end of September. In the last three months, the mobile base grew by 4.55 million lines to 231.87 million, and broadband customers grew by 185,000 to 17.82 million. The number of fixed lines fell by 216,000 from June to 40.45 million, and TV customers rose by 107,000 to 3.21 million.
