Telefonica group's consolidated first-quarter revenue increased by 10.8 percent year-on-year, to EUR 15.43 billion. Due to Telefonica's diversification strategy, strong revenues in Latin America (+26%) and Europe (+8.4%) offset the performance in Spain (-5.6%). The mobile data business reinforces its status as a key growth driver (18.6% year-on-year in organic terms). Nearly 71 percent of revenues and 64 percent of OIBDA are now generated outside Telefonica Espana, due to the Group's high degree of diversification, the company said. By region, Telefonica Latinoamerica and Telefonica Europe account for 2.4 percentage points and 0.6 percentage points of organic growth in consolidated revenues respectively, offsetting the lower contribution from Telefonica Espana (down 1.8 percentage points in the period). In the first quarter, Telefonica Latinoamerica and Telefonica Europe accounted for almost 71 percent of consolidated revenues, compared to Telefonica Espana's contribution of around 28 percent. Telefonica's commercial focus on higher-value customers and new services resulted in an increase of more than 6 percent in the customer base to nearly 290.5 million accesses, the company said. OIBDA stood at EUR 5.574 billion, up 9 percent year-on-year, while operating income totalled EUR 3.057 billion, an increase of 4.3 percent versus March 2009. Net income amounted to EUR 1.624 billion, up 1.9 percent versus the first quarter of 2010. The company also generated operating cash flow of EUR 4.022 billion in the first quarter, despite increased investment in all regions in growth and transformation projects. Capex stood at EUR 1.551 billion, up 30.2 percent on the year-earlier figure. The company plans to continue to focus its investments on growth and transformation projects (81 percent of total investment), fostering the development of broadband services, both fixed and mobile. Telefonica's mobile accesses reached 223.1 million by the end of the first quarter, up 8 percent year-on-year. The mobile contract segment increased by 14.2 percent year-on-year. The company had 26.5 million mobile broadband accesses by the end of March. Retail fixed broadband accesses reached a total of 17.4 million, up 9 percent year-on-year. Bundles of voice, broadband and television services remain key to this strategy and especially to churn control. Both in Spain and in Latin America, 89 percent of retail fixed broadband accesses are bundled as part of either a dual or triple service package, Telefonica said. The number of pay-TV accesses stood at 2.9 million at the end of the first quarter, up 10 percent year-on-year, while fixed telephony accesses totalled 40.9 million, down 2 percent year-on-year in organic terms.
