Telefonica reported fourth-quarter revenues up 9.9 percent from a year earlier to EUR 16.46 billion, driven by its takeover of full control of Brazilian mobile operator Vivo. OIBDA fell 9.5 percent to EUR 5.41 billion on higher operating costs and staff restructuring charges, and the company's net profit dropped 45.4 percent to EUR 1.33 billion. Telefonica added a net 5.4 million new mobile customers in the quarter, to finish the year at 220.2 million. Around 10 percent or 22.2 million customers were using mobile broadband, up 63.9 percent from the end of 2009. The fixed broadband base reached 17.1 million customers at year-end, up 27.0 percent from a year ago, and the pay-TV subscribers grew by 12.0 percent to 2.8 million. Fixed-line customers were up 1.8 percent to 41.4 million. Over the full year, the operator generated operating cash flow of EUR 14.93 billion, down 2.7 percent from a year earlier, while capex rose 13.6 percent to EUR 8.23 billion. For 2011, Telefonica forecast revenue growth of up to 2 percent, an OIBDA margin in the upper 30s versus 42.4 percent in 2010, and capex increasing to around EUR 9 billion.
