Swisscom posted a drop in revenue and increase in operating income, net income and Capex during the first quarter of 2019.
Swisscom’s revenue decline was marginal at 0.9 percent to CHF 2,860 million during the first quarter of 2019.
Swisscom reported operating income of CHF 1,119 million (+5.8 percent), net income of CHF 379 million (+1.1 percent) and Capex spending of CHF 518 million (+3.4 percent) in Q1 2019. Capex in Switzerland was CHF 353 million, while Fastweb Capex was CHF 161 million.
Swisscom’s television subscriber base rose 2.1 percent to 1523K. Swisscom’s broadband customer base grew 0.2 percent to 2030K. Swisscom’s mobile customer base fell 1.1 percent to 6378K.
Swisscom CEO Urs Schaeppi said: “Swisscom has reported solid results in a challenging market environment, with revenue and EBITDA both on a par with the previous year. In just five weeks, we managed to sign up over 250,000 customers for our latest inOne mobile offering.”
Capex
Swisscom’s capital expenditure has increased by 3.4 percent or CHF 17 million to CHF 518 million. In Switzerland, this was primarily due to higher capital expenditure for the expansion of broadband networks, which rose by 13.3 percent to CHF 357 million.
Fastweb’s capital expenditure fell by 10.1 percent to EUR 143 million as a result of lower levels of investment in network infrastructure.
Swisscom acquired mobile communication frequencies for a total amount of CHF 196 million during an auction process in Switzerland. The frequencies were allocated in April 2019 and will remain with Swisscom until 2034.
Swisscom’s 5G network is live since mid-April. The aim is to cover the whole of Switzerland with 5G by the end of the year. Swisscom will be offering 5G smartphone in partnership with Oppo Reno.
Swisscom has connected 66 percent of all Swiss homes and offices with ultra-fast broadband speeds in excess of 80 Mbps. More than 37 percent of homes and offices enjoy connections with bandwidths of more than 200 Mbps. Swisscom aims to connect all Swiss municipalities and 90 percent of Swiss homes and offices with ultra-fast broadband in 2021.
Swisscom’s 4G/LTE network covered 99 percent of the population nationwide. 95 percent of the Swiss population can surf at speeds of up to 300 Mbps, 72 percent at speeds of up to 500 Mbps, and 27 percent at speeds of 700 Mbps.
