Also in the third quarter 2017 Fastweb displayed growth in terms of customers, revenue and margins. The strategy based on infrastructure investment and fair offers based on transparency and simplicity, without hidden costs for end-users, keeps being rewarded by the market, both on fixed and mobile segments.
By September 30th 2017, Fastweb wireline customer base reached 2.421.000, marking 5,5% growth (+126.000 new customers) year over year.
Revenues year-to-date totaled 1.414 million Euro, up 7% compared to 1.318 million Euro of previous year, due to the increasing availability of Fastweb ultra-broadband connectivity offer (up to 1 Gb/s) throughout the national territory and the commercial launch of new offers which include all ancillary services (such as calls to the voicemail service or the lease of the router) and "fixed" prices that do not change at the end of a promotional period.
EBITDA reached 573 million Euro compared to 490 million Euro of the first nine months of 2016 (+17%). Excluding extraordinary items, EBITDA amounts to 478 million Euro, up 10% on the previous year (435 million Euro). A slight growth also for EBITDA margin on company's revenue which reached 34% compared to 33% in the first nine months of 2016, signaling the continuous improvement of earnings.
Free Cash Flow, taking into account extraordinary cash-outs for the acquisition of Tiscali Business branch and the participation in FlashFiber, totaled 74 million Euro. Excluding extraordinary cash outs, FCF would have reached 114 million Euro, up 36% on previous year.
Fastweb continuous engagement in the roll-out of FTTC and FTTH networks – reaching now 7.9 million households in 130 cities - pushed CAPEX in the first nine months of the year to 441 million Euro, 11 million more than in the first nine months of 2016 (+3%) and equal to 31% of company's revenues, an unparalleled figure in the European telecoms sector highlighting Fastweb key role in delivering innovation and digitalisation in Italy.
Fastweb consolidates its leadership position in terms of penetration of ultra-broadband connectivity services. By September 30th, 965.000 wireline customers opted for an ultra-broadband offer (+29% compared to the 750.000 customers active in September 2016). Approximately 40% of Fastweb wireline customers – a unique figure in Europe - switched to an ultra-broadband service with download speed up to 1 Gb/s, indicating a growth in the demand for high-performance connectivity and Fastweb commitment in promoting the digital transformation of Italian families and companies.
An excellent quarter for the mobile segment as well. At September 30th Fastweb has reached 989.000 mobile customers, up 57% on the 630.000 customers in the previous year. Overall customer growth in the first nine months is more than four times the growth achieved in the first three quarters of the previous year (+313.000 compared to +67.000 in the first nine months of 2016). Fastweb confirms its focus on fixed-mobile convergence - increasing to 22% the percentage of customers adopting both fixed and mobile services (+5% in 12 months) - as well as on transparency, thanks to the launch of the "Niente Come Prima" portfolio of mobile offers which get rid of all hidden costs usually charged for ancillary services such as calls to voicemail or calls to check outstanding credit.
Very positive performance of the Enterprise Business Unit in the third quarter. Specifically, new contracts with the central and local Public Administrations within the framework agreement for the connectivity services to the public administration (SPC) as well as the provision of connectivity and value added services to new private business customers lead to a 33% growth of the BU order book compared to the first nine months of 2016. Fastweb market share in the Enterprise Business market is now almost 30% in terms of revenues, thanks to the continuous growth throughout the years.
Relevant facts occurred after the closing of the quarter
In October 2017 Fastweb reached its first million of mobile customers. The launch of new mobile offers in May 2017 has determined an unprecedented acceleration in the activation of new customers as the market is clearly appreciating Fastweb mobile strategy – based on freedom, fairness and transparency. Fastweb portfolio of mobile offers – with only four profiles – is characterized by the elimination of all hidden costs, the possibility to use the minutes included in each offer also towards 50 international destinations, the very low price for data traffic with Giga connections and minutes above the threshold and the elimination of all penalties in case of early termination of the contract. Fastweb is the only mobile operator in Italy adopting a strategy aimed at eliminating all sort of uncertainties for users over the actual cost of mobile voice and data traffic, in order to strengthen the trust relationship with its customer base.