The fiber-based tlc provider posted a 5.3% increase in its customer base in the first three months of the year reaching a total of 1,861,000 clients. Revenues stable in the period at 398 million Euro, Ebitda at 97 million.
Milan, 2nd May 2013 - After a positive 2012, during which Fastweb was the only Italian broadband provider to increase its customer base in each quarter, Fastweb also posted a substantial increase in customers in the first three months of 2013, at a time in which other providers showed no growth. From January to March, 94,000 new families chose Fastweb - which offers broadband Internet connections on its fiber optic network at speeds of up to 100 megabit per second - as their broadband provider and thus the customer base rose to 1,861,000 families.
During the first quarter, Fastweb’s revenues reached 398 million Euro, stable with respect to the year-earlier figure (net of hubbing revenues, which the Company has planned to gradually reduce, and seasonality of the revenues from business customers). Ebitda was stable to 97 million Euro, (compared to previous year result, net of above mentioned items).
It is thanks to the success of Fastweb’s new sales policy, based on its fiber optic network and the premium quality of its services, that there has been an increase in both the revenues and the Ebitda of the residential segment, thus marking a change in trend with respect to the rest of the Italian residential broadband market which has been stagnant for the last few quarters.
In the Enterprise segment, Fastweb has reinforced its co-leadership of the market. The order book in the first quarter increased by 17% YoY, with a 55% win rate in negotiations. New contracts were signed in the period with Guardia di Finanza (the Italian fiscal police corps), Azienda Ospedaliera di Napoli and Unicredit.
Inline results were also obtained by the Enterprise division thanks to the addition of three new lines of value added services. These services include Cloud computing, managed services, security and housing which have shown important sales dynamics and represent a promising extension of the telecommunications services portfolio. These services thus complete Fastweb’s portfolio and further respond to the requirements of large corporations and Public Administration.
The development of Fastweb’s fiber optic network continued during the period and 5.5 million homes in 20 Italian cities will be reached by the end of 2014, with a total investment of 400 million Euro. During the quarter the new network was extended or further developed in Brescia, Livorno, Monza, Pisa, Varese and Verona. In these cities families and companies may now buy Fastweb’s ultrabroadband services, run on its fiber optic network, as is already the case in Milan, Rome, Turin, Genoa, Bologna, Bari and Naples.
Fastweb’s investments in the quarter were equal to 126 million euro, a 13% increase due to the new plan of expansion in fiber up to the street cabinet. In 2013, thus, Fastweb confirms its role of solely alternative operator to invest in its own fiber network, in the expectation that AGCOM will regulate the access prices so to incentive the investment in Fiber to the Street Cabinet architecture.