Brussels, 20 October 2015 – Today, Mobistar (Euronext Brussels: MOBB) publishes its results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2015. Mobistar has delivered on its efficiency plan ahead of schedule and continues to demonstrate its ability to transform and generate additional leeway to fuel mobile customers net additions and fund upfront cable investments whilst restoring its overall margins. Mobistar’s solid commercial and operational performance has led to positive year-on-year growth in both total service revenues and restated EBITDA:
Mobistar’s retail customer base in Belgium further increased sequentially in the third quarter of 2015, driven by the postpaid segment adding 8.3 thousand new customers, and a robust demand M2M/IoT (+22.6 thousand). Mobistar’s segmented offering, its loyalty program and the quality of its network particularly contributed to the continuous improvement of customer churn since the beginning of the year. Similarly, Orange Luxembourg’s customer base grew by 2.2 % this quarter compared to the previous quarter.
In Belgium, Mobistar’s postpaid ARPU increased by 3.6 % to 28.3 euros in the third quarter of 2015, from 27.4 euros a year ago. Mobistar’s outdoor and indoor 4G coverage increased to 97 % and 83 %, respectively as of 30 September 2015. In the first nine months of 2015 Mobistar’s total data traffic increased 106 % year-over-year with 4G traffic representing more than 50 % of the total monthly mobile data traffic in September 2015. Combined with a rapid market penetration of smartphones amongst its customer base, the data traffic increase, correlated to 4G services, supported the positive ARPU trend. Mobistar’s ARPU also benefitted from a healthy demand and usage for data roaming services.
Experiencing a solid commercial performance, Mobistar also delivered sound financial results in the first nine months of 2015:
Total service revenues of 813.9 million euros, -1.5 % yoy, (+0.9 % yoy in Q3 2015);
A restated EBITDA of 228.1 million euros, +4.8 % yoy (+11.3 % yoy in Q3 2015);
An operational cash flow of 112.5 million euros, +62.1 % yoy (+63.3 % yoy in Q3 2015).
Mobistar is now only awaiting for the regulators to publish their final decision on the wholesale cable prices to launch its high speed broadband and digital TV services.
Those solid results and the current operating trends, have led Mobistar to upgrade its full year guidance for 2015. Mobistar is now expecting to exceed the high-end of its initial guidance range of between 260 and 280 million euros restated EBITDA excluding cable costs.
Mobistar’s Chief Executive Officer Jean Marc Harion commented: ‘Our customers continue to respond positively to our engagement to place them at the centre of our attentions. Mobistar’s premium 4G network, strong product portfolio and loyalty program HAND allow us to differentiate, drive loyalty and motivate new consumers to join the Mobistar community. We will continue to ride on the crest of this wave while awaiting to launch our high speed broadband internet and TV services pending the regulator’s final decision regarding wholesale cable prices.’
Ludovic Pech, Mobistar’s Chief Financial Officer, added: ‘We are confident to reach at least the high-end of our initial guidance range of 260 to 280 million euros restated EBITDA excluding cable costs as we continue executing well on our transformation plan. We are also delivering excellent cash flow growth and remain committed to further improve efficiency and profitability. Importantly, this has been achieved without jeopardizing our return to customer and top line growth while absorbing the initial investments on cable’.