Spain’s Euskaltel Group ended the first quarter with record penetration rates for its residential broadband (84.5%), mobile telephony (78.6%) and pay-TV (58.5%) services.
Furthermore, the penetration rate for its triple and quad play service stood at 66.5%, compared to the previous year’s 64.3%.
As of the end of Q1, the group, comprised of the operators Euskaltel and R, had 275,000 pay-TV subscribers, or 4,100 more than three months earlier.
Its revenues and EBITDA in Q1 amounted to €139.5 million and €68 million respectively, with net profit €13.2 million.
Commenting on the results, Euskaltel Group’s CEO, Francisco Arteche, emphasised “a solid business with record penetration levels in key products – mobile phones, pay-TV and broadband – as a result of the successful strategy to offer convergent products and maximum added-value services, and also the group’s financial strength shown through its strong cash generating capacity and, as a result, the creation of value for our shareholders and the distributing of dividends”.
Arteche stressed Euskaltel’s role as an innovative company, revealing some of the initiatives it expects to launch on to the market in the coming months. These include the launch, this month, of a new 4k Android-based decoder and a new series of services available for new and existing customers who want to improve their experience; network modernisation with the deployment of DOCSIS 3.1, which already covers 24% of the network in the Basque County; and the launch of new innovative service packages aimed at SMEs and a communication campaign for companies launched in late April in the Basque Country.
In his assessment, Arteche indicated that the group has successfully manoeuvred a particularly difficult quarter with strong competition in the industry, emphasising that “we stand by our previous estimates and objective for the year, meaning higher revenues and a greater EBITDA margin than last year. Our aim is to position our company to increase value growth and we therefore stand by the sustained growth forecasts announced for this year”.
