T-Mobile 2016: Return to growth, LTE coverage expansions and driving innovations

Mobile service revenues back to growth
Investments in technologies reached nearly CZK 5 billion
LTE network covered 96% of the Czech Republic’s population
Launch of innovative Smart Car solution

In 2016, T-Mobile Czech Republic continued to expand and improve the quality of the fastest mobile internet network and introduce innovative offers of services for residential and business customers. The operator achieved good results. TMCZ´s service revenues reached CZK 18.3 billion confirming growth after years of decline, EBITDA indicator increased year-on-year by 0.6% to CZK 11 billion. Consumption of services per customer also increased, most significantly in the area of data.

“In 2016, our focus was on two areas – expansion of mobile internet and strengthening of our position as a strong and stable partner in ICT,” says Milan Vašina, Managing Director at T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom, adding: “Though we operate in an investment-intensive sector, we also consider support for non-profit organisations, community development, sports and cultural events as a matter of course. Whether this involves new technical ideas or unique artistic, business and non-profit projects, we want to be a part of it.”

Technologies and innovations: nearly CZK 5 billion invested
At the end of 2016, T-Mobile’s LTE network covered 96% of the Czech Republic’s population, which is 14 percentage points more compared to the previous year. The number of LTE-Advanced transmitters, which allow for even higher data transmission speeds, increased fivefold in 2016. T-Mobile reaffirmed its role as a leading innovator among the operators in the Czech Republic by launching the unique Smart Car solution, as well as by introducing and providing significant support to the Sea Hero mobile game, which uses Big Data to appreciably accelerate research into Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, in partnership with SimpleCell Networks, T-Mobile operates the SIGFOX IoT network, which covered nearly 90% of the Czech Republic’s population at the end of the year. Investments in technologies and services totalled nearly CZK 5 billion.

CSR and sponsoring activities
Last year, the company invested approximately CZK 91 million in CSR and sponsoring activities. The operator supports newly established small businesses through the T-Mobile Takeoffs project and awards grants to non-profit organisations that can also take advantage of the free year-long Academy learning programme. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its entry into the Czech market, the operator initiated the publication of a book titled "2036. Tomáš Sedláček and guests: how we will live in twenty years", which has met with great success among readers, and, in cooperation with the National Technical Museum, organised the “Of Phones and Man” exhibition showing how people's lives have changed over the past decades thanks to telecommunications technologies. T-Mobile is also a proud partner of the Czech Olympic Committee and supported several major cultural events (Bernstein’s Mass, Kryštof camps, Rock for People) in 2016.

Customers and use of services
As of 31 December 2016, more than six million customers were using T-Mobile’s services, consisting of 3.7 million contract customers and 2.4 million prepaid users. The average monthly churn (the number of customers who stopped using the operator’s services) was 1.4%.
In 2016, users of T-Mobile’s mobile services called 157 minutes per month on average, which is 1.3% more compared to the previous year. While the usage of voice and text messaging services remained almost unchanged, the volume of transmitted data grew by 82% year-on-year, exceeding 32,100 terabytes.

’000	Q1–Q4/2015	Q1–Q4/2016	% y/y
Number of customers – mobile services	6,019	6,049	0.5%
Contract customers	3,597	3,687	2.5%
Prepaid customers	2,422	2,362	-2.5%
Net adds	18	30	66.7%
Contract customers	97	90	-7.2%
Prepaid customers	-78	-60	n/a
Average monthly churn – mobile services	1.5%	1.4%	-0.1%p
Contract customers	0.6%	0.5%	-0.1%p

Financial indicators
Total revenues from mobile and fixed-line services reached nearly CZK 26.5 billion, with revenues from mobile services exceeding CZK 18.3 billion. The average monthly revenue from mobile services per user (ARPU) was CZK 254, which is approximately the same figure as achieved in the previous year. The growing use of data services is mirrored in the share of non-voice services in ARPU from mobile services, which increased year-on-year by three percentage points to 48%

As of 31 December 2016, T-Mobile Czech Republic had nearly 3,400 employees. Last year, the company paid CZK 3.8 billion into the Czech Republic’s national budget (in the form of VAT, corporate income tax, road tax and real estate tax).

CZK	Q1–Q4/2015	Q1–Q4/2016	% y/y
Total revenues (million)	27,076	26,472	-2.2%
Service revenues (million) – mobile services	18,179	18,337	0.9%
EBITDA (million) – integrated services	10,969	11,033	0.6%
EBITDA margin (EBITDA/total revenues)	40.5%	41.7%	1.2%p
ARPU – mobile services	253	254	0.4%
Contract customers	363	359	-1.1%
Prepaid customers	94	94	0.0%
Non-voice % of ARPU – mobile services	45%	48%	3%p

More information about T-Mobile’s activities in 2016 is available here.

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.