Telefonica Brazil (Vivo), a unit of Spanish telecom giant Telefonica, has reported net profits of USD2.22 billion in full-year 2012, up 2.1% year-on-year, on revenue of USD16.97 billion (up 2.3%). Net income in the last three months of the year totalled USD737.2 million, it said, up 57.5% from the corresponding period in 2011. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for FY2012 rose 17% to USD1.95 billion, well above a forecast of USD1.52 billion. Without one-time savings and asset sales, EBITDA rose 9% to USD1.61 billion from a year earlier, it said. The carrier, which was formed in the first half of 2011 when Telefonica acquired control of wireless service provider Vivo Participacoes, closed out 2012 with a total of 91.1 million customers, broken down as 76.1 million mobile and 15 million fixed telephony, broadband internet and pay-TV customers. Vivo is the brand under which Telefonica is reorganising all its mobile, fixed line, cable TV and internet services in Brazil.
In 2013, the company says it plans to increase its network investments in an effort to boost broadband speeds as fixed line revenues are adversely impacted from rising competition. Telefonica Brazil is targeting an 11% to 12% increase in CAPEX this year, a spokesperson for the firm told analysts on Monday during a call to discuss earnings. ‘We are not happy with our general performance in the fixed business, mainly in TV and broadband. We are in the process of implementing a strong tactical plan to turn around this business,’ senior executive Paulo Cesar Teixeira is quoted as saying.