Digi Communications reported strong first quarter growth, with revenues rising 10% year-on-year to €583 million excluding extraordinary asset sales, as the operator continued expanding across southern Europe and prepared for its UK market launch.
Adjusted EBITDA excluding IFRS16 increased 15% to €161.2 million, supported by continued customer growth across Romania, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
The group ended the quarter with more than 33 million revenue-generating units (RGUs), up 15% year-on-year.
Mobile services remained Digi’s main growth driver, accounting for more than half of total RGUs. Mobile customers increased 21% to 16.8 million across the group.
Romania continued to anchor the business, with total RGUs reaching 20.2 million. Mobile customers in the country rose 20% to 8.2 million, while broadband increased 5% to 5.2 million and pay TV grew 2% to 6 million.
Spain remained Digi’s fastest growing major market, with RGUs increasing 26% to 11.4 million. Broadband customers rose 30% to 2.8 million, while mobile users increased 22% to 7.6 million.
Portugal also continued to scale following Digi’s market entry, with RGUs rising 20% to 905,000. Italy’s mobile base reached 534,000 customers.
CEO Serghei Bulgac said the results reflected continued execution of Digi’s long-term expansion strategy, with Romania and Spain remaining the group’s core growth engines while Portugal and Italy represented important emerging markets.
The company also confirmed it had taken its first operational steps into the UK market through subsidiary Fiber One Ltd, which acquired a 51% stake in Whyfibre Limited.
Whyfibre is deploying a fibre network across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, with Digi expecting to begin pilot broadband services in the near future.
The move marks Digi’s first operational presence in the UK telecoms market and continues the group’s wider European expansion strategy.
Following the quarter end, Digi completed a bonus share issue and said it would propose a gross dividend of RON 0.5 per share at its June shareholder meeting, representing an 11% year-on-year increase adjusted for the enlarged share base.
