T-MOBILE STRENGTHENS ITS MARKET POSITION IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2014

H1 2014 highlights: integration, mobile segment increase, LTE roll-out
Mobile customer base rose by 4.9% y/y to more than 5.9 million
Volume of data transmitted in the Czech Republic’s fastest network grew y/y by 71%  

Prague, August 7, 2014 – In the first six months of 2014, T-Mobile strengthened its position in the Czech market: the operator gained a significant number of mobile customers, profited from its new strategy in the B2B segment supported by mergers with T-Systems CZ and GTS Czech, and further developed its fast network. The LTE roll-out started in the Plzeň region and the coverage in Prague improved significantly, too. T-Mobile introduced the first LTE-A technology in Mladá Boleslav, bringing speeds of up to 225 Mbps to its customers.

The first half of the year confirmed the market trends: the use of telecommunications services saw growth again, while the average revenue per user dropped significantly. Compared to the same period of the previous year, the number of T-Mobile mobile customers increased by 4.9% to more than 5.9 million. Despite a number of factors hindering the development of the Czech telecommunications market, T‑Mobile succeeded in maintaining its leading position in the mobile segment and achieving satisfactory financial results.  

“We managed to strengthen our position, even though the market situation is tough and we´ve been undergoing significant internal changes,“ says Milan Vašina, T-Mobile’s Managing Director, adding: “I´d like to thank all our employees for their enthusiasm and tireless effort to give their best to our customers.” 

CUSTOMERS

As of 30 June 2014, more than 5.9 million customers were using T-Mobile’s mobile services, with contract customers approaching 58% (3.4 million) and 2.5 million customers using the prepaid Twist service. The average monthly churn rate (i.e. the share of customers who decided to stop using the operator’s services) increased to 1.3%. The number of fixed accesses reached 130,000. 

’000	H1 2014	H1 2013	% y/y
Number of customers – mobile services	5,946	5,667	4.9%
Contract customers *	3,437	3,210	7.1%
Prepaid customers	2,509	2,456	2.2%
Net adds	115	169	-32.0%
Contract customers *	148	138	7.2%
Prepaid customers	7	30	-76.7%
Average monthly churn – mobile services	1.3%	1.1%	0.2%p
Contract customers	0.4%	0.3%	0.1%p

* Contract customers H1 2014 incl. wholesale subscribers

Users of T-Mobile’s mobile services called an average of 150 minutes per month during the first half of this year, which is an increase of 7.1% in comparison with last year. Consumption grew in all areas, including the number of calling minutes and text messages and, above all, the volume of transmitted data, which nearly increased by 70.5% in comparison with the previous year, reaching 4,808 terabytes.  

FINANCIAL INDICATORS

In the first six months of the year, the company reported total revenues from fixed-line and mobile services close to CZK 12 billion, with revenues from mobile services reaching CZK 9.4 billion. Customers spent an average of CZK 264 per month, which represents 12% less than in the same period of last year. The further growth of data usage is reflected in a year-on-year increase of the share of non-voice services in the revenues from mobile services, which grew by 5.5 percentage points to the record high level of 36.8%.   

CZK	H1 2014	H1 2013	% y/y
Total revenues (million) – integrated *	11,977	11,834	1.2%
Service revenues (million) – mobile services **	9,442	10,129	-6.8%
Adjusted EBITDA (million) (integrated services) *	5,081	5,337	-4.8%
Adjusted EBITDA margin (total revenues)	42.4%	45.1%	-2.7%p
ARPU – mobile services	264	300	-12.0%
Contract customers	386	439	-12.1%
Prepaid customers	99	120	-17.5%
Non-voice % of ARPU	36.8%	31.0%	5.5%p

* 2014 Total Entity / 2013 TMCZ only
** Y/Y comparison affected by methodology changes and one-off items 

Information about T-Mobile’s other activities in the first six months of this year 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.