Telecom operator Swisscom announced revenue, ARPU, Opex, Capex and profit for the third quarter of 2018.
Swisscom has reported revenue of CHF 8.689 billion (+1 percent), EBITDA of CHF 3.231 billion (–3.7 percent), Capex of CHF 1.621 billion (+2.1 percent) in Q3 2018.
Swisscom expects revenue of CHF 11.6 billion, EBITDA of CHF 4.2 billion and capital expenditure of less than CHF 2.4 billion for the 2018 financial year.
Swisscom said saturation and competition on the Swiss market resulted into 2.2 percent or CHF 144 million drop in revenue. Revenue on telecommunication services fell by CHF 179 million, mainly due to price pressure and the drop in fixed-line telephony. Fastweb’s revenue grew by EUR 102 million (+7.2 percent).
Swisscom is on course to achieve its target of cutting the annual cost base in Switzerland by CHF 100 million. The workforce in Switzerland decreased by 523, or 3 percent, in the first nine months.
5G investment
Swisscom in association with Ericsson set up the 5G network in Burgdorf. Swisscom aims to become the first mobile network operator in Switzerland to offer partial 5G coverage at several locations by the end of 2018. The mobile communication frequencies for 5G will be awarded in early 2019.
Swisscom connected about 4.1 million homes and businesses to its ultra-fast broadband service (speeds in excess of 50 Mbps). Some 2.8 million homes and offices benefit from connections with bandwidths of more than 100 Mbps.
Swisscom intends to invest in fibre-optic technology in every Swiss municipality by the end of 2021.
The nationwide coverage of Swisscom’s 4G/LTE network was 99 percent. 80 percent of the Swiss population can already surf at speeds of up to 300 Mbps, while 40 percent benefit from bandwidths of up to 500 Mbps.
Swisscom’s gigabit network is connected to 11 towns and cities and 15 Swisscom shops. Its gigabit network will reach 30 percent of the Swiss population by the end of 2018.
Swisscom’s TV and broadband bundled offer called inOne has 2.12 million customers at the end of September, an increase of 779,000 in the first nine months of the year. inOne covers 49 percent of mobile subscriptions and 53 percent of fixed-line broadband connections. Swisscom also increased the speed of inOne subscriptions again in the last quarter.
Swisscom added 30,000 fixed-line broadband connections to reach 2.03 million. Swisscom added 57,000 TV connections, or 3.9 percent, to more than 1.5 million. In the third quarter, the figure grew by 9,000.
The number of mobile lines remains stable at 6.6 million (+0.1 percent). Post-paid lines grew by 66,000, while pre-paid lines fell by 58,000.
