Telefonica O2 Czech Republic nine month results: revenues flat but margins improving
In its unaudited financial results for the first nine months of 2006, released on Friday, Telefonica O2 Czech Republic (the former Cesky Telecom) announced that revenues were up 0.6% year-on-year to €1.61bn; operating costs were down 1.1% to €850m, operating income was up 21.7% to €336m and net income was up 33.9% year-on-year to €242m. OIBDA margin reached 48.9%, a 1.7 percentage point increase year-on-year and net margin was up 4 percentage points on the same period last year to 15%.
Comment: In our previous comment on Telefonica O2 CZ on its H1 results, we stated it was ‘as good as it gets’ for the operator. However, they have managed to impress us by improving their already very impressive margins even further. OIBDA was up from 48.5% in Q2 to 48.9% in Q3.
Although the picture is still pretty grim in the fixed segment with traditional access revenues down by 7.8% and voice traffic down by 13.3% it is not all bad news. Interconnection revenues increased by 2.5% in the first nine months of 2006 due to an increase in international transit traffic, and long-distance traffic also increased by 2.8% due to unification of local and long-distance call rates introduced in April 2006. Despite the introduction of aggressive cost reduction schemes leading to a 10% cut in personnel costs year-on-year and further integration and restructuring still to take place, the operator will find it hard to improve upon its current situation as competition increases and call prices continue to fall.
Internet and broadband revenues were up 7% year-on-year largely due to a 56% increase in ADSL customers from 274,000 in December 2005 to 427,000 at the end of September 2006. An aggressive marketing campaign for ADSL launched in Q1 2006 is proving successful in migrating customers from narrowband connections, with the proportion of total Internet customers with broadband access reaching 69%. This is an impressive rate of migration, but the high costs of marketing and discounted offers is leading to disappointing revenue growth relative to customer growth in this segment.
Mobile segment revenues were up 5.9% year-on-year with the proportion of revenues from data services increasing by 1.4 percentage points to 19.7%. This is an impressive level of growth, considering SIM-card penetration has reached 115% of the Czech Republic population.
Telefonica O2 CZ is still facing the same problem as many incumbents – fixed revenues in freefall, whilst mobile and broadband services generate growth. Its ability to limit this decline in traditional services and maximise growth from new wave services will determine if revenue growth remains positive. At present, Telefonica O2 CZ is operating at break even, but as mobile and broadband growth slows, the scales could easily tip into the red.
Source- http://www.ovum.com
Telefonica O2 Czech 9-month sales up 0.6 percent
Telefonica O2 Czech Republic has reported results for the first nine months of 2006. Group revenue reached CZK 45.6 billion, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier, with operating income up 21.7 percent to CZK 9.5 billion and net income up 33.9 percent to CZK 6.8 billion. Total business revenues at the fixed-line division were down 4.8 percent to CZK 22.5 billion, with traditional access revenue down 7.8 percent to CZK 7.9 billion, and traditional voice services revenue (voice traffic and interconnection) down 7.1 percent to CZK 7.6 billion. Voice traffic revenue was down 13.3 percent to CZK 4.3 billion, with interconnection revenue up 2.5 percent to CZK 3.3 billion. Combined broadband and internet revenue was up 7 percent to CZK 2.5 billion, with broadband revenue up 48.8 percent to CZK 2 billion and narrowband revenue down 48.9 percent to CZK 504 million. It had 427,000 ADSL access lines at end-September, after adding 153,000 since the start of the year. Total business revenue at the mobile division was up 5.9 percent to CZK 22.8 billion, with voice service revenue up 3.7 percent to CZK 17 billion. It had 4.76 million mobile customers at end-September, up 6 percent year-on-year, with net additions of 84,000 over the nine months. Blended ARPU for the nine months was CZK 505, versus CZK 508 a year earlier.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
T-Mobile Leverages Gemalto Technology for First Mobile TV Launch in Eastern Europe
Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), a world leader in digital
security, today announces it has been selected by T-Mobile Czech
Republic to participate in its pilot program for mobile TV. Gemalto
provides the operator with secure personal devices in the form of a
digital rights management card. Operator and user benefits include
mobility, digital rights management, the highest levels of hardware
and software security, user preference settings and future field
upgradeability. During the two-month trial phase, T-Mobile Czech
Republic subscribers will experiment mobile TV and the associated
interactive services. Commercial launch is scheduled for 2007, with
specific rollout date to be defined based on the results of the pilot
operation.
T-Mobile Czech Republic is deploying the interactive “TV in your
pocket” service based on the DVB-H standard as part of its strategy
to meet its customers’ needs for the most innovative multimedia
services. In addition to watching TV while on the go, T-Mobile
subscribers will be testing interactive services such as voting
linked to television broadcasts and downloading video clips and
trailers. In the next phase of the pilot program, they will also be
able to subscribe to specific programs and purchase the rights to
view, for example, sporting events or concerts.
The advanced Gemalto solution for mobile TV has been designed to
meet the stringent security requirements linked to rights and keys
management prior to card activation in the handset, by incorporating
a Conditional Access System (CAS) that protects the access to the
encrypted TV content. The end-user’s rights are managed by the secure
card, thus allowing T-Mobile to easily upgrade the security level of
the CAS and also offer dynamic management of mobile TV services
tailored to each subscriber’s specific needs.
“We selected Gemalto for their sound expertise in securing access
to mobile content,” commented Jir Dvorjancansk½, executive
vice-president marketing, T-Mobile Czech Republic. “We want to do
everything to make this pilot program a success, starting with
teaming up with the most reliable partners.”
“There has been booming interest in TV on the phone over the past
few months,” added Jacques Seneca, president Europe, Gemalto. “We at
Gemalto have been working on it for two years and today, we are very
pleased to support T-Mobile Czech Republic in deploying this
compelling service and bring our expertise in advanced card
technology, which definitely plays a pivotal role in securing
broadcast content. The ability to upgrade the card in the field
allows the operator to significantly reduce subscriber support cost.”
Gemalto is involved in a number of nation-wide mobile TV
deployments across the world and has already shipped over 1 million
advanced technology cards in this promising market, which potential
for growth is considerable. A recent report by Informa Telecoms &
Media (June 2006) projects some 210 million mobile TV subscribers by
2011.
About Gemalto
Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is a leader in digital
security with pro forma 2005 annual revenues of EUR1,7 billion
(US$2.2 billion), operations in 120 countries and 11,000 employees
including 1,500 R&D engineers. The company’s solutions make personal
digital interactions secure and easy in a world where everything of
value -from money to entertainment to identities- is increasingly
represented as bits and bytes communicated over networks.
Gemalto thrives on creating and deploying secure platforms,
portable and secure forms of software in highly personal objects like
smart cards, SIMs, e-passports, readers and tokens. More than a
billion people worldwide use the company’s products and services for
telecommunications, banking, e-government, identity management,
multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security and other
applications. Gemalto was formed in June 2006 by the combination of
Axalto and Gemplus International S.A. For more information please
visit www.gemalto.com.
Contacts Gemalto
Gemalto Fleishman-Hillard
Aline Borne Odile Bibollet
T.: +33-(0)1-55-01-51-05 T©l.: +33-(0)-1-47-42-92-82
M.: +33-(0)6-16-29-87-04
aline.borne@gemalto.com odile.bibollet@fleishmaneurope.com
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands and PRAGUE, Czech Republic, October 24
/PRNewswire/ –
ots Originaltext: Gemalto
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de
Contact:
Gemalto, Aline Borne, T.: +33-(0)1-55-01-51-05, M.:
+33-(0)6-16-29-87-04, aline.borne@gemalto.com, Fleishman-Hillard,
Odile Bibollet, T©l.: +33-(0)-1-47-42-92-82,
odile.bibollet@fleishmaneurope.com
Source- http://www.presseportal.de
Movistar,O2 launch My Europe High Roamer service
Movistar and O2 mobile subscribers will receive free incoming calls when abroad.The mobile operators, both owned by Telefonica, have launched a programme called My Europe High Roamer service, which provides free incoming calls when roaming in Europe.
Movistar customers pay €10 per month to receive calls in 33 European countries, including Spain, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the UK, Sweden, Switzerland, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia and Vatican City. O2 customers will pay GBP5 per month, but will initially only be able to receive free calls when in Spain. Making roaming calls when abroad costs GBP 0.25 per minute – a 70 per cent discount on usual prices, says O2.
Source- http://www.dmeurope.com
Vodafone’s start-up division to launch corporate offering next July
The Czech branch of the mobile operator Vodafone set up a special team to prepare a new offering for big businesses, slated to be launched in July 2007, Vodafone Czech Republic’s CEO, Grahame Maher told CBW.
We are bringing all technologies together now, and we are building the capability for businesses first, to satisfy all communication needs,??? Maher said, adding that the offering will also include fixed line Internet connection and VoIP.
The project, which works independently as a start-up company, is called Oskar version 2, or just V2, and is run by a team that Vodafone created this July to find ways of entering the big business market.
Vodafone will run its first trials with customers in the first quarter of next year. The Oskar Version 2 team might grow from the current 12 members to 25 members next year, but it will be incorporated back into Vodafone before the company launches its new offering next July. Vodafone hasn’t done this anywhere in the world yet,??? Maher said, adding that the company wants to tap both Oskar’s entrepreneurial background and Vodafone Group’s resources to make the project reality.
It will never be sold as a separate brand. It’s just outside of the business while it’s being started so that we don’t slow it down,??? Maher said. While he was tight-lipped about the exact cost of the project, he said that the investment is in tens of millions Euro.
So far we have dealt with smaller customers, with up to 20 phones, and this is our chance to enter into the area which T-Mobile and Telef³nica had to themselves, really,??? Maher said. He added that Vodafone will have the chance to build and handle global accounts.
The whole offering will be prepared Oskar-style??? and Vodafone wants to enter the big businesses market with different, aggressive and radical offers. The single biggest difference will be in pricing for VoIP,??? Maher said, pointing out that no one’s doing that yet. Vodafone plans to offer simple pricing with a fixed monthly payment so that clients will not be surprised by the amount of their phone bills. In addition, the company will manage all technological upgrades for the customer. We want to take the complications away so customers don’t have to worry about it,??? Maher said.
A similar offering should be available for residential customers as well, but Vodafone doesn’t have any time-schedule for such launch yet.
Source- http://www.cbw.cz
O2, Movistar deal drops incoming charges when roaming
Telefonica is taking advantage of its new ownership of British mobile operator O2 to launch a roaming deal for British and Spanish customers. Under the My Europe High Roamer service, Spanish Movistar and British O2 customers now can receive free incoming calls when abroad. Customers with a Movistar contract will be charged EUR 10 a month to receive calls in 33 countries including Spain, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the UK, Sweden, Switzerland, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia and Vatican City. O2 customers will be charged GBP 5 a month for the subscription, but will only initially be able to receive calls for free when they are in Spain. O2 has said in the first half of next year, customers will be able to receive free calls in at least 35 more European countries. Making calls abroad under the tariff costs GBP 0.25 per minute, which O2 says is a 70 percent discount on usual prices. SMEs are eligible for half-price subscription if they commit to O2 for twelve months.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Telefonica O2 launches fixed, mobile internet package
Telefonica O2 Czech Republic has launched the O2 Internet Komplet service which allows users to use a fixed and a mobile connection for a single monthly fee on one invoice. The service allows subscribers to the O2 Internet Mobil service for a CDMA mobile internet connection, and the O2 Internet Expres broadband ADSL service. The mobile connection offers maximum speeds of 512 kbps, with customers offered 20 hours access per month free of charge. Customers can also access the O2 Wi-Fi Hot Spot network in the Czech Republic. Various tariffs are available, with packages for households and small businesses.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
T-Mobile, Vodafone in talks to share Czech infrastructure
Mobile operators T-Mobile and Vodafone are in talks on sharing network infrastructure in the Czech Republic. If they reach an agreement, the deal is expected to lead to better network coverage as well as reduced costs and environmental impact as they share base station sites.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
