Full-service Italian telco Wind Telecomunicazioni (Wind) has announced that it recorded revenues of EUR5.9 billion (USD8.4 billion) for the twelve months ended 31 December 2010. This figure represents a 3% increase from the EUR5.7 billion reported in FY09. Wind’s wireless operations accounted for the lion’s share of the revenues, rising 5% to EUR3.8 billion year-on-year; Wind credits the increase to an enlarged subscriber base and improved traffic usage. In comparison, fixed line revenues remained fairly stable, down 0.7% year-on-year to EUR1.7 billion. Wind reports that the consumer segment saw revenues edge up 2.6%, helping to offset lower revenues generated by its international businesses. EBITDA for the twelve months ended 31 December 2010 increased 2% to EUR2.2 billion; according to the operator, the positive performance was driven by ‘solid top-line growth coupled with a constant focus on costs and was achieved notwithstanding the unfavourable economic and regulatory scenario’. Although an exact figure has not been provided, Wind claims that it spent approximately EUR1 billion on CAPEX during 2010, with the bulk of its investment centred on increasing the coverage of its 3G/HSDPA network. Wind’s net result for FY10 was a loss of EUR252 million. This was reportedly a result of one-off costs arising from the refinancing of Wind’s debt, which occurred in November 2010. Without these charges, Wind indicates that it would have posted a net profit of EUR92 million.
In operational terms Wind saw its mobile subscriber base grow 8.3% to 19.93 million year-on-year, consolidating its position as Italy’s third largest cellco by subscribers. However, ARPU declined from EUR17.4 to EUR16.6, primarily as a result of mobile termination rate (MTR) cuts, which were effective from July 2010. Fixed line voice telephony customers exceeded three million by end-December 2010, with broadband customers increasing 16.4% to 1.91 million year-on-year. Of these subscribers 1.6 million were signed up to double-play packages, an increase of 18.9%.