Spanish operator Cellnex Telecom, Europe’s largest mobile towers company, reported revenues up 55 percent year on year to EUR 1.61 billion in 2020, a year that saw the company enter five new countries (Austria, Denmark, Poland, Portugal and Sweden) and consolidate its presence in its key markets of Spain, Italy, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK. Cellnex said its EBITDA soared by 72 percent to EUR 1.18 billion, in line with its outlook, but its net loss widened to EUR 133 million compared to EUR 9 million in 2019 due to higher amortisations and financial costs associated with the intense growth of the group and the expansion of its geographical footprint.
The company announced investment commitments of EUR 16 billion in 2020, followed by a further EUR 9 billion in the first few weeks of 2021. The latter includes a new EUR 1.6 billion agreement with Poland’s Cyfrowy Polsat to acquire its telecommunications infrastructure subsidiary Polkomtel Infrastruktura, confirming earlier reports.
Cellnex said infrastructure services for mobile telecommunications operators contributed 79 percent of total income in 2020, some EUR 1.28 billion in total, up 83 percent year on year, while broadcasting services and infrastructure contributed EUR 227 million, or 14 percent of income. The segment comprising the company’s security and emergency service networks as well as its smart cities business contributed EUR 105 million, or 7 percent of revenues from January to December.
Some 67 percent of revenues and 75 percent of EBITDA are now generated from outside the Spanish market, with Italy still the company’s second largest market, accounting for 21 percent of group revenues. In total Cellnex had 58,014 operative sites at the end of December (4,470 in Austria, 1,317 in Denmark, 10,312 in France, 1,781 in Ireland, 10,610 in Italy, 924 in the Netherlands, 5,052 in Portugal, 10,327 in Spain, 5,315 in Switzerland and 7,996 in the UK), plus a further 3,004 nodes (DAS and small cells), the latter up 25 percent year on year. Points of Presence (PoPs) climbed 5.5 percent year on year while the customer ratio per site stood at 1.46.
Lifts 2021 guidance
Looking ahead, Cellnex announced an improved 2021 outlook, saying it expects all its key indicators (revenues, EBITDA and free and recurring cash flow) to increase by 50 percent, with revenues coming in at EUR 2.41 billion to EUR 2.45 billion, EBITDA at between EUR 1.82 billion EUR and 1.86 billion, and recurrent cash flow at EUR 905 million to EUR 925 million.
