America Movil today said its Capex (capital spending) in telecom infrastructure in the second quarter reached $3.5 billion (45.6 billion pesos).
The telecom operator invested in deploying fiber optic networks across the board as well as cable to the home.
America Movil said it’s rolling out 4G networks in various countries, growing its 3G footprint, and broadening the reach of fiber connections available to cell sites.
The submarine cable to link the South American block through Fortaleza in Brazil to the Caribbean, and Yucatan to Florida will begin operations this quarter.
Its Q2 sales rose 4 percent to $15.61 (202.6 billion pesos), while profit grew 2.4 percent to $5.1 billion (66.6 billion pesos).
Its service revenues increased 5.8 percent with both mobile data revenues and PayTV revenues expanding at a rate of approximately 18.8 percent.
America Movil said fixed-voice revenues continued to reduce their rate of decline to -1.7 percent in the second quarter from -3.2 percent in the first one but mobile voice revenues deteriorated as they went from an annual growth rate of -0.8 percent in the first quarter to -3.3 percent in the second one.
Mexico turbulence
Billionaire Carlos Slim’s mobile-phone carrier lost 2 million subscribers in Mexico, its home market. Mexican wireless subscriptions fell to 71.3 million, with mobile voice revenue falling 8.7 percent on lower fees due to regulations, said America Movil in a statement.
However, data revenues in Mexico continued to accelerate on both platforms, growing 15.3 percent in the mobile and 7.4 percent in the fixed.
Profit margins in countries such as Brazil and Colombia expanded.
Net income rose to 18.8 billion pesos from 14.2 billion pesos.
Profit margins climbed 2.2 percentage points from a year earlier to 25.5 percent in Brazil, which now represents about 25.8 percent of America Movil’s wireless customers, compared with Mexico’s 26.7 percent. Earnings in Brazil were also aided by demand for TV service.
Last week, Slim’s company said it would pay $1 billion to boost its stake in Telekom Austria to 50.8 percent.
America Movil cut its stake in Dutch phone carrier Royal KPN to 22.6 percent from 24.8 percent.
Wireless growth
Its wireless subscriber base rose 1.8 percent to 266.9 million. America Movil said its postpaid segment grew 7.8 percent to 43.9 million subscribers after net gains of 524,000 subscribers, including 207,000 in Brazil and 121,000 in Mexico.
Mexico represents around 27 percent of wireless subscriber base, followed by Brazil 26 percent, with Colombia accounting for almost 11 percent of clients and the U.S. 9.6 percent. The Argentinean and the Central America-Caribbean blocks represent 8.2 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively, while Ecuador and Peru contribute 4.5 percent each.
