The company was also keen to highlight a significant fall in its net debt at the end of September to EUR 24.3 billion, some EUR 958 million lower than the end of last year, helping it to achieve its full-year debt target three months ahead of schedule.
In its domestic market, TIM released 9-month figures indicating core revenues were down 4.5 percent year on year to EUR 9.99 billion, compared to EUR 10.45 billion a year earlier, attributed to the “to the different competitive and regulatory context”, including the market entry of French low-cost brand Iliad and the impact of a 30.4 percent decline in equipment sales to EUR 555 million.
Mobile revenues were down 9.0 percent year on year, due above all to lower revenues from stand-alone services (-8.3%). Mobile lines were down 2.1 percent year on year to 31.25 million, including 9.84 million M2M connections, with mobile ARPU falling 5.0 percent to EUR 12.9. Fixed revenues increased by EUR 87 million, or 3.4 percent year on year, over the first nine months of 2018, including a 0.5 percent rise in the services component, driven by 117,000 new fixed broadband additions in Q3 alone, up from 60,000 in Q2, and a 34 percent year on year surge in fibre lines to 6.6 million, half of them wholesale.
TIM also confirmed its guidance of a low single digit revenue decline this year, rising to low single digit growth for both 2020 and 2021, and announced that it was in the process of selecting “one or more infrastructure funds” to help its proposed fixed broadband tie-up with wholesale provider Open Fiber, confirming earlier reports.
