Belgian telecoms operator Proximus reports a solid commercial momentum in second quarter: Mobile Postpaid customer base +45,000, Fixed Internet +19,000 and TV + 11,000.
TV customer base grew by 11,000 in the second quarter, reaching 1,652,000 end June 2020 (+1.3% year-on-year).
The number of Fixed Internet customers totaled 2,108,000, with 19,000 lines added over the second quarter (+1.8% year-on-year).
By the end of June 2020, the total amount of Fixed Voice lines was 2,327,000, a decrease of 22,000 lines in the second quarter of 2020 (-6.0% year-on-year).
Proximus has signed two important MOU’s, with Delta Fibre and Eurofiber to establish strategic partnerships enabling an additional acceleration and extension of its fibre footprint in respectively Flanders and Wallonia.
Guillaume Boutin, CEO Proximus Group, said: “We contained the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic on our Group EBITDA in the second quarter and thanks to strong cost and investment management, we are confident to reach the high end of the full-year guidance. We also signed crucial MOUs in the execution of our #inspire2022 strategy, boosting our future fibre deployment.
“We were also happy to announce to our customers that we reached an agreement for the distribution of Eleven Sports’ new Pro League channels covering all live Belgian football matches on all their screens via Pickx for the next 5 seasons. Proximus customers will therefore continue to be able to enjoy an extremely comprehensive sports offer from the start of the season through our All Sports offer.
“Last, but not least, I am really proud and excited that we can announce today the signature of Memorandums of Understanding with Eurofiber and Delta Fiber enabling us to further enlarge and accelerate the roll-out of our open Fiber network in Belgium. This will allow us to realise a significant acceleration of around 30% compared to our target of 2.4 million living units connectable to fibre by 2025. These partnerships will also facilitate a substantial further upscaling beyond that date, with up to 4.2 million homes and businesses that can be connected to fibre by end 2028, representing a fibre coverage of about 70%.
“This will generate long-term value accretion through a more cost-efficient roll-out, improved competitiveness through undisputed network superiority and even more copper outphasing. We expect the net effect on our cumulative FCF over the next five years to be neutral, lower rollout capex compensating the anticipated equity injections. Hence there will be no impact on our net debt level. Entering into these partnerships will enable us to lead in the multi-gigabit infrastructures and bring Belgium to the forefront of digitalization in Europe.”
