Telefônica Brazil Grows by 22 Percent in the First Quarter of 2019

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Telefônica Brasil achieved a net profit of R$1.3 billion (US$325 million) in the first quarter of 2019, with a growth of 22.2 percent over the same period last year.

Recurring EBITDA, which is profit excluding interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, totaled R$3.9 billion, an annual increase of 2.9 percent.

Driven by mobile service, handset, and broadband sales, the company’s net revenue increased by 1.7 percent year-on-year.

This was possible due to the company’s investment in the period, which totaled R$1.7 billion. The increase was 9.6 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

According to the CEO of Telefônica, Christian Gebara, the company focused its efforts on expanding the FTTH network (fiber), which began including nine new cities in the first quarter.

He says that investment in extending the coverage and capacity of the 4G and 4.5G networks has also been a motive for successful results. There are now 1,022 municipalities with a 4.5G network as well as 130 cities with fiber.

Vivo continues to be the sole leader in mobile service. The company’s market share, recorded in March 2019, stands at 32.1 percent, an increase of 7.5 percent over the runner-up position.

Contract accesses increased by 9.4 percent in the period and now account for 55.8 percent of total mobile accesses, representing a 5.9 percent year-on-year increase.

Vivo holds the leadership in the market with a share of 40.1 percent. With regard to 4G technology, Vivo is also ahead of its competitors, holding 31.2 percent.

In the wireline segment, Vivo fell 3.2 percent in net revenue for the period. The reason is the lower collection from voice service, as Brazilians are speaking increasingly less over the phone.

These losses were partly offset by increased revenue.