Telecom Italia (TIM) reported a 0.4 percent year-on-year decline in second quarter service revenues to EUR 4.5 billion on a comparable basis, an improvement on falls of 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent in the previous two quarters, helped by a 2.4 percent rise in service revenues at its TIM Brasil unit that partly offset a 1.2 percent decrease at its domestic unit. Second-quarter service revenues including international wholesale services arm Sparkle came to EUR 4.14 billion, down 2.5 percent year on year, said TIM. The company’s EBITDA was EUR 1.9 billion in the second quarter, down 2.6 percent on an organic basis, though the margin inched up 0.6 percentage points to 42.2 percent thanks to cost containment initiatives.
TIM added that its net debt at the end of June had fallen to EUR 24.7 billion, down EUR 539 million compared with the end of last year and that it would be reduced by at least another EUR 160 million this year following the expected finalisation of the binding agreement to sell its broadcasting unit Persidera to F2i and EI Towers.
In its domestic market, TIM released first-half figures indicating revenues were down 3.4 percent to EUR 6.70 billion compared to EUR 6.94 billion in H1 2018, attributed to the “changed regulatory and competitive scenario”, notably the arrival of French low-cost brand Iliad. Mobile service revenues in the consumer segment were down 12.0 percent to EUR 1.25 billion, although TIM said it was seeing signs of a return to market normality following a 36 percent decline in Mobile Number Portability on an annual basis and 11 percent compared to the previous quarter. Total mobile customers amounted to 31.7 million at the end of June, up 0.1 percent year on year, with the churn rate falling by 1.7 percentage points year on year, while ARPU inched up to EUR 12.5 per line per month from EUR 12.4 in the previous quarter.
The company’s fixed-line segment continued to perform strongly, driven by an 8.3 percent rise in consumer ARPU and a 17.2 percent surge in broadband ARPU. TIM’s overall fibre base soared by 45 percent to 6.3 million lines (counting retail and wholesale) at the end of Q2, thanks to the ongoing migration from copper to fibre, together with the positive impact of new regulated wholesale prices. However, a decrease in the number of accesses prompted standalone fixed service revenues to dip by 0.3 percent year on year to EUR 1.71 billion in H1.
