FastWeb boost for Swisscom
August 14, 2008
Broadband communications recorded sustained strong growth year-on-year: The number of fixed-line and broadband connections rose by 193,000 (+12.8 per cent) to 1,699,000. As at the end of June 2008, Swisscom's Bluewin TV IPTV service counted around 80,000 paying customers. Net growth compared to the previous year amounted to around 40,000 customers. The average one-time cost per new customer including devices, hardware, etc. was considerably reduced to under CHF 700, mainly through the introduction of self-installation (currently around two thirds of new customers).
Italian triple-play provider FastWeb has been included in the consolidated results since completion of the acquisition on 22 May 2007. The recorded continuing strong revenue, EBITDA and customer growth in the first half of 2008. Net revenue increased year-on-year by 14.0 per cent to E814 million (CHF 1,304 million). The number of customers saw year-on-year growth of 22.0 per cent to 1,398,000 customers. Thanks to an agreement with Telecom Italia concerning unfair poaching of customers, FastWeb received a compensation payment of EUR 30 million (CHF 48 million), which was recorded as other income in the second quarter of 2008
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