Danish telco TDC, the country’s leading operator in terms of subscribers, has published its financial results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2017, reporting a 3.6% year-on-year decline in revenue to DKK20.3 billion (USD3.5 billion), down from DKK21.0 billion in 2016. The company attributed the development to a sustained decline in revenues generated by the Business and Consumer divisions in its domestic market (-4.8% y-o-y), which was partly offset by growth in Norway (+4.0%). Adjusted for negative effects from acquisitions, divestments, regulations and foreign exchange rates (DKK216 million), organic revenue decreased by 2.6%, or DKK545 million, in 2017. Meanwhile, EBITDA decreased by 2.9%, from DKK8.5 billion in 2016 to DKK8.2 billion twelve months later, while gross profit totalled DKK15.0 billion (down 4.2% y-o-y). Profit for the period also decreased, to DKK1.6 billion (down by DKK1.5 billion), while excluding discontinued operations and ‘special items’ profit slumped by 22.2%, due to higher amortisation and depreciation costs. Capital expenditure increased by 3.1% y-o-y to DKK4.5 billion in 2017, driven by an upgrade project under which the telco is aiming to provide cable broadband access with downlink of 1Gbps to 50% of Danish population.
In operational terms, TDC reported 2.64 million mobile revenue generating units (RGUs) in its domestic market at end-December 2017, up from 2.59 million in 2016, while broadband RGUs numbered 1.27 million, down from 1.31 million in 2016.