Swisscom loses TV and broadband customers

Source: Swisscom

Swisscom lost more TV and broadband customers in the first quarter, contributing to a dip in revenue and EBITDA. On the upside the Swiss telco pointed to growth at its Italian business, Fastweb.

Blue TV subscriptions in Switzerland stood at 1.526 million at the end of March, down 2.1%.

Retail broadband lines were down 1.3% to 1.991 million.

Mobile access lines meanwhile grew by only 0.5% to 6.269 million.

Fastweb meanwhile grew its mobile base – by 11.8% – to 3.611 million, but saw its own retail broadband access base reduce by 3% to 2.582 million.

Fastweb increased its revenue by 5.6% in local currency terms.

Swisscom is currently in the process of acquiring Vodafone Italia to merge with Fastweb in order to scale the business up.

Swisscom’s revenue from telecommunications services in the residential customer segment fell by 1.8% year-on-year to CHF946 million. Among other things, said Swisscom, the decline was due to the increase in VAT not being passed on to customers.

Group revenue fell by 1.6% year-on-year to CHF2.703 billion, with a marginal decline of 0.5% at constant exchange rates. In the Swiss core business, revenue fell by CHF52 million or 2.5% to CHF1.993 billion. Revenue from telecommunications services decreased by 2.2% to CHF 1,324 million.

“Customers are inspired by our products and services and are happy to recommend Swisscom to others. In the comparison tests conducted on our mobile network and our service, we were able to improve further on our already very high level. Business performance is satisfactory and in line with expectations,” said CEO Christoph Aeschlimann.

“We are focusing on quality and taking a more conservative approach than our competitors when it comes to promotions. We have also avoided passing on rising costs, such as the increase in VAT, to our customers. Our subsidiary Fastweb is growing continuously in Italy. The planned takeover of Vodafone Italia will strengthen Swisscom as a whole. Our focus in Switzerland remains unchanged. A top network and top service continue to be the priorities.”