Telecom Lead Asia: Bezeq, Israel’s largest
telecommunications group, posted a decrease of 5.1 percent in revenue at NIS
11.37 billion for 2011 against NIS 11.98 billion for 2012.
For Q411, revenues plunged by 13.3 percent at NIS 2.65
billion, against NIS 3.05 for Q410.
Net profit stood at NIS 2.07 billion with a decrease of
15.4 percent for 2011, against NIS 2.42 billion for 2010. For Q411, Net profit
stood at NIS 524 million, a decrease of 8.9 percent, against 575 million for
Q410.
In 2011, the company’s operating profit decreased by 13.4
percent at NIS 3.24 billion. EBITDA dipped by 10.0 percent at NIS 4.64 billion.
For Q411, operating profit declined by 22.5 percent at NIS 698 million, against
NIS 901 million for Q410.
Bezeq Fixed-Line’s Next Generation Network (NGN)
contributed to an 11.8 percent increase in revenues from Internet services.
The company said that average broadband speed per
customer jumped 55.8 percent to 6.7 Mbps.
Full year revenues from Internet services exceeded one
billion shekels for the first time, and amounted to NIS 1.09 billion, the
company added.
Fixed-line capital expenditures in 2011 grew 12.8 percent
to NIS 1.17 billion.
Bezeq believes the structural changes in the
communications market must continue with the cancellation of structural
separation at Bezeq, which will lead to a more competitive market, and significant
savings in consumers’ communication expenses,” said Shaul Elovitch, chairman,
Bezeq.
For 2012, the Bezeq Group estimates that net profit,
EBITDA, and revenues for 2012 will be similar to those of 2011. The Group
expects free cash flow in 2012 to improve compared to 2011, mainly due to the
improvement in working capital and the completion of the NGN project and
submarine cable deployment.
“As we look ahead to 2012, we project the Group’s
full year revenue, EBITDA and net profit will be in line with the Group’s 2011
financial results and we expect improved free cash flow primarily due to an
improvement in working capital and the completion of the NGN project and
submarine cable deployment,” said Alan Gelman, chief financial officer and
deputy CEO of Bezeq.
Recently, Bezeq
launched a hosted Unified Communications (UC) service, which is powered by
BroadSoft’s BroadWorks voice application platform.
editor@telecomlead.com
