Swisscom TV connections up 30%
August 7, 2013
Swisscom has posted a fall in net revenue of CHF 25 million (0.4 per cent) to CHF 5,596 million in the first half of 2013, while EBITDA was down by CHF 122 million (5.5 per cent) to CHF 2,102 million. At constant exchange rates and excluding hubbing revenues from Fastweb (wholesale revenues from interconnection services) and company acquisitions, net revenue was reduced by 1 per cent. The decline was primarily due to general price erosion of around CHF 200 million in Swiss business and lower revenue from roaming fees of around CHF 90 million. The reduction was largely offset by customer and volume growth of around CHF 260 million.
The number of Swisscom TV connections increased by 208,000 (30 per cent) year-on-year to 902,000; of these 849,000 involve fixed-fee subscriptions. More than half of Swisscom’s fixed broadband customers now also use Swisscom TV. Over 370,000 Swisscom TV customers are using the replay function, which allows programmes from around 70 channels to be watched up to 30 hours after they have been broadcast. The number of fixed broadband lines rose by 73,000 or 4.3 per cent year-on-year to 1.77 million.
“Our results are solid and we are on track,” said acting CEO Urs Schaeppi. “We will continue to pursue our strategy with a strong focus on customer service and innovation. Despite continuing competition and price pressure we are confident about the second half of the year. We are investing a great deal in our network and for our customers, and are convinced that this will pay off in the long term. We gained many new customers in the second quarter, primarily for our television service (+42,000), in mobile communications (+37,000) and at Fastweb (+26,000).”