Telecom Italia (TIM) reported revenues up 1.0 percent year on year to EUR 3.82 billion in the second quarter of 2021, a return to growth following a flat reading in Q1 and Covid-hit annual falls of 2.1 percent, 5.0 percent, 10.1 percent and 6.6 percent in 2020. TIM said the result was due to a substantial rise in service revenues at its TIM Brasil unit (up 10.5% in local currency) coupled with an improvement in core domestic revenues EUR 3.13 billion, equivalent to a 1 percent year-on-year decline.
However, the company’s EBITDA was down 5.8 percent year on year to EUR 1.6 billion in the second quarter due to higher costs, above all the operator’s partnership with streaming service DAZN to air Italy’s top-tier Serie A football matches over the next 3 seasons. The deal prompted the operator to push back its objective to stabilise core profits this year, it now expected a “low to mid single digit” fall in organic EBITDA this year compared to an earlier guidance of “stable to low single digit” growth.
In its domestic market, TIM said its performance was helped by a stabilisation of revenues in the fixed segment and greater customer loyalty in the mobile market. The operator’s mobile churn rate came in at the lowest levels seen in the last 14 years (3.7%) and continued improving in fixed (3.4%).
Total mobile lines (human SIMs and M2M lines) came to 30.3 million on 30 June, down from 30.5 million a year earlier but up 95,000 compared to the first quarter of 2021, with TIM achieving the best result among Italy’s MNOs for the fourth consecutive quarter.
FTTx access up 20% YoY
In the fixed line segment, the overall customer base stabilised and continued growing in fibre, which rose by 231,000 in Q2 alone. The company said it activated some 366,000 new retail and wholesale fibre accesses in the quarter to reach 9.4 million units, up 20 percent year on year.
