Sunrise, a leading telecommunications company in Switzerland, has demonstrated robust investment levels and revenue growth in its full-year 2023 financial report. The company’s capital expenditure (Capex), particularly in property and equipment (P&E) additions, reached 17.3 percent of revenue, totaling CHF 526.5 million, in 2023.
Despite challenges, Sunrise experienced positive revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, with a 2.5 percent increase, amounting to CHF 795.4 million. However, full-year revenue slightly decreased to CHF 3,035.2 million, representing a marginal 0.2 percent decline.
Sunrise’s consumer mobile revenue surged to CHF 339.5 million, marking 4.8 percent increase. This growth was attributed to factors such as customer expansion, hardware sales, and revenues beyond mobile subscriptions. The quarter-on-quarter improvement was driven by performance in variable revenues, including roaming charges.
Sunrise’s consumer fixed business revenue was CHF 294.5 million, representing 0.7 percent decrease. This decline was mitigated by inflation-related price adjustments and favorable impacts from hardware sales and transmission fees, albeit offset by ongoing adjustments in subscriber pricing.
Sunrise’s business-to-business (B2B) segment witnessed steady growth, generating revenue of CHF 151.5 million, a 1.9 percent increase. While subscriptions, integration services, and mobile device sales drove this growth, challenges persisted due to reduced variable mobile revenues.
Sunrise has achieved notable net growth in mobile postpaid subscriptions, adding 31,000 subscriptions in the final quarter of 2023 and a total of 132,000 subscriptions for the full year. Despite a slight decline of 3,000 broadband subscriptions over the year, the company stabilized its broadband customer base.
Fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) continued to gain traction, with 58.1 percent of fixed broadband customers also utilizing mobile postpaid offers by the end of 2023, reflecting a 0.7 percent year-on-year increase.
Andre Krause, CEO of Sunrise, attributed the company’s success to mobile postpaid customer growth, improved trends in broadband, and B2B expansion, alongside rigorous cost management and efficiency enhancements. Increased marketing efforts also contributed to stabilizing the broadband customer base despite activation delays.
Looking ahead, Sunrise anticipates continued positive momentum, with the addition of mobile postpaid subscriptions expected to bolster performance in the first quarter of 2024. With a focus on cross-selling and upselling convergent products, the company aims to further increase FMC penetration within its customer base, driving sustained growth.
