Vodafone Italia closed the first quarter on 30 June with revenues from services down to 1,2 billion (-6,5%) but with customers rising to 12,6 million on 4G mobile (+29,6%) and strong growth in fiber (+68,5%). The decrease in revenues - explains the company in the press release that reveals accounting data - is mainly connected to two reasons: the first is to be attributed to "full compliance with the precautionary measure adopted by the Antitrust, which led Vodafone to choose to suspend the 'tariff adjustment envisaged with the return to monthly tariffs”; the second, to the "acceleration of competitive dynamics in the mobile segment, partially offset by the growth in revenues and the fixed network customer base".
Precisely the growth on the fixed network, a trend that also affected other operators and which is linked to the progress of investments in ultra-broadband which had a strong boost in 2017, pushed Vodafone's revenues from services to 257 million euros (+7,1% ). Customers rose to 2,8 million of which 2,6 million in broadband (+310 thousand compared to the same quarter of the previous year) and 1,3 million connected in fibre. The strategic choice made by Vodafone to focus on real fiber, the one in FTTH mode, through the agreement with Open Fiber, was therefore rewarded.
Management developments envisage the continuation of the development of fixed and mobile ultra-broadband which has so far earned Vodafone the recognition of the best mobile network in Italy for the quality of the voice and data service.
At global group level, Vodafone announced consolidated revenues of €10,9 billion, down 4,9% due to accounting changes related to the transition to the Ifirs 15 model from the previously adopted IAS 18. The first quarter, which closed on 30 June, recorded an increase in organic revenues (+0,3% on an IAS basis and +1,1% on an Ifirs basis). Looking at the geographical areas, Europe is down but would have grown by 0,5% - reports the note from the group - excluding the knock-on effect linked to the new regulations (roaming) and the effects of the new UK rules on loans for the buying mobile phones. The Amap area (Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific) grew by 7% and India fell sharply (-22,3%) if we look at the comparison with the previous year, but the fall stopped compared to fourth quarter resulting in -1,4%.
On the other hand, mobile data traffic leapt forward by 57% and the group confirmed its guidance on organic adjusted Ebitda growth of between 1 and 5 percent.
“Growth in the turnover of the group's organic services slowed down during the first quarter – commented the CEO of the Vodafone group, Vittorio Colao – in line with expectations. Most of our businesses performed well, with continued momentum in Germany, and further improvements in the UK and continued growth in AMAP. Our commercial performance has been robust, with further gains in broadband market share in Europe, a record number of customers adopting our convergent propositions, and the continued success of our world-leading IoT platform." . In India “where competition is intense, we have received approval from the Telecommunications Department for the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, which allows us to close by the end of August, enabling us to unlock substantial synergies. The Group's overall performance (including good progress in reducing total operating costs for the third consecutive year) provides us with the confidence to reiterate our outlook for the year."
