Brazilian telecoms giant Oi has reported total net revenues of BRL6.160 billion (USD1.94 billion) for the three months ended 31 March 2017, down 8.8% year-on-year from BRL6.755 billion. EBITDA for the first quarter of 2017 dropped 2.4% y-o-y to BRL1.723 billion from BRL1.766 billion, while Oi’s consolidated net loss for the period under review narrowed sharply to BRL200 million, compared to BRL1.815 billion in the corresponding year-earlier period. The carrier reported that its good operational performance supported ‘continuous cash generation and net debt reduction’, adding that its overall operational efficiency translated into sustainable cost reductions for the group. Oi invested BRL1.2 billion in 1Q17, up 1.9% y-o-y, corresponding to 20.2% of total net revenues, illustrating it said, its ‘commitment to business sustainability’.
In operational terms, Oi reported a total of 63.371 million revenue generating units (RGUs) at 31 March 2017, down 8.8% from 69.499 million one year earlier. The bulk of the subscriber accounts – 39.837 million – were attributed to Oi’s ‘personal mobility’ unit, down 12.6% on an annualised basis. ‘Residential’ subscribers (including broadband, wireline and pay-TV) dropped 1.7% to 16.343 million, while corporate/B2B customer numbers declined by 1.8% to 6.550 million, and public payphone lines in service edged down to 641,000 from 651,000.