Portugal Telecom Capex (capial spending) in the third quarter of 2013 decreased 27.4 percent to $359 million (€267.4 million) from year-ago period.
The telecom operator’s capital spending in Portugal has dipped 17.6 percent to €108.8 million, while its telecom infrastructure investment in Brazil declined 36.4 percent to €130.9 million, said Portugal Telecom.
For the first nine months of 2013, Portugal Telecom’s Capex declined 3 percent to €864 million, equivalent to 19.0 percent of revenues.
Oi Brazil’s Capex focus was on 3G coverage and capacity, in the initial rollout of the 4G-LTE network and in IT services, mainly related to system updates and upgrades.
Capex in the Portuguese telecom businesses is expected to be more demand driven, given the recent investments in the modernisation of the networks and in technology, and in 2013 and 2014 should be below €500 million and €400 million, respectively.
Portugal Telecom, which earlier focused on FTTH and 4G-LTE networks in Portugal, invested in IT/IS projects, which represented 25 percent of total Capex in Q3; customer Capex of €34 million, and technology and infrastructure Capex of €44 million.
PT already covers 1.6 million households with FTTH and 92 percent of the population with 4G-LTE allowing speeds of up to 150 Mbps. PT is testing LTE-Advanced and has already achieved speeds of 300Mbps, preparing the evolution of its 4G-LTE offer.
Meanwhile, Portugal Telecom revenue decreased 11.3 percent to €1,454.3 million in the third quarter. Its net income dipped 66.4 percent to €21 million.
