Telefónica Group Reaches 312 Million Accesses, up 6% YoY

Driven by continued growth in Latin America, the Telefónica Group now has a global customer base of 312 million accesses, up 6% over the same point last year. Mobile broadband accesses rose 51% to 44.9 MBB accesses at the end of the first half, signalling a penetration rate of 18% in the mobile customer base (243.5 million, +7%). Contract mobile accesses grew +8% year-on-year to 78.5 million, while fixed broadband and pay TV accesses stood at 18.4 million and 3.3 million, respectively.

“Telefónica’s second quarter results showed an improvement quarter-on-quarter, especially at OIBDA level.�?, thanks to the strict cost containment measures, while at the same time highlighting “the strong diversification of our business�?, which remains key to growth, “with an increasing contribution from Telefónica Latinoamérica to consolidated results,” stated Telefónica chairman, César Alierta.

The company also credited greater efficiency in its home market, where Telefónica España delivered OIBDA of 1,718 million euros between April and June, an increase of 3% compared to the previous quarter, with significant margin growth (45% in 2Q2012 vs. 42.8% in 1Q2012).

CapEx for the first six months of the year totaled 3,658 million euros, 4.7% lower than in the same period of 2011. In 2011 this item included the cost of spectrum acquisition in Brazil and Costa Rica. Therefore, in organic terms, CapEx rose year-on-year by 9.2%. The Company continues to devote the bulk of its investment to growth and transformation projects (81% of total investment), fostering the expansion of high speed broadband services, both fixed and mobile. The CapEx over sales ratio (excluding spectrum investments) was 11.8% in the first half of 2012.
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