Swisscom’s Capex up 4.4% to CHF 545 mn in Q1

Swisscom Group has revealed that its revenue decreased by 0.3 percent to CHF 2,747 million in the first quarter of 2023, Swisscom CEO Christoph Aeschlimann said in its earnings report.
Swisscom’s capital expenditure (Capex) rose 4.4 percent to CHF 545 million in Q1 2023, primarily due to network infrastructure in the Swiss core business (+8.2 percent) and at the Italian subsidiary Fastweb (–2.5 percent in EUR).

CHIP has rated Swisscom’s mobile network the best in Switzerland — for the eighth time in a row. Swisscom covered more than 75 percent of the Swiss population with 5G+ by the end of March 2023.

Swisscom plans to increase fibre-optic coverage (FTTH) to around 55 percent by the end of 2025, and to 70–80 percent by 2030. In March 2023, Swisscom concluded an access agreement with Salt. This includes Layer 1 access to Swisscom’s fibre-optic network in the point-to-point architecture, on which Salt can offer and operate its own services.

Swisscom has generated CHF 2,044 million (–0.6 percent) from Swisscom Switzerland, CHF 619 million (+0.7 percent) from Fastweb, CHF 243 million (+0.8 percent) from Other Operating Segments.

Swisscom Switzerland’s revenue fell 0.6 percent or CHF 12 million to CHF 2,044 million. Revenue from telecoms services decreased by 1.2 percent or CHF 17 million to CHF 1,348 million. Of the decrease, CHF  12 million (–3.0 percent) is attributable to the Business Customers segment, while revenue from telecoms services in the Residential Customers segment remained almost stable at CHF 960 million (–0.5 percent). Revenue from IT services increased by 0.7 percent to CHF 291 million.
Swisscom Switzerland’s Capex by 8.2 percent or CHF 30 million to CHF 394 million due to transport networks. Swisscom plans to increase fibre-optic coverage (FTTH) to around 55 percent by the end of 2025, and to 70–80 percent by 2030.

Fastweb’s revenue rose 4.7 percent or EUR 28 million to EUR 623 million. The customer base in the fixed-network business (end-customer and wholesale) grew by 2.1 percent to 3.16 million. The number of ultra-fast broadband connections provided by Fastweb to other operators rose to 498,000 (+37.2 percent).

The number of mobile connections increased by 582,000 (+22 percent) to 3.2 million. Revenue from residential customers increased by 1.4 percent or EUR 4 million to EUR 289 million, mainly as a result of the greater mobile customer base. Revenue from business customers increased by 5.7 percent or EUR 14 million to EUR 261 million.

Fastweb’s capital expenditure fell by 2.5 percent to EUR 153 million due to a decrease in customer-driven investment.

The financial outlook for the 2023 financial year remains unchanged. Swisscom expects revenue of CHF 11.1 to 11.2 billion, EBITDA of CHF 4.6 to 4.7 billion and capital expenditure of around CHF 2.3 billion for 2023.