Despite looming recession, Telefónica managed to grow slightly (0.7%), ending the first half of the year with 3.62 billion EUR (about $5.08 billion) in profits. Excluding one off capital gains last year, the increase would have been 11%, although revenues fell by two percent to 27.6 billion EUR.
As expected, the growth came from Latin America, which contributed 39.8% to consolidated revenues and 39% to OIBDA. Telefónica Europe also reported growth, with — as expected (again) — not that impressive numbers.
The main story is that the group’s wireless subscriber base exceeded 200 million at the end of June: during the first quarter of the year, operator added slightly more than 5 million customers, and around 2.7 million in the second. Brazil led the growth with 1.9 million new customers, followed by Germany (0.7 million), Mexico (0.6 million) and the United Kingdom (0.4 million).
[Via: CellularNews]