Telecoms: Italy

Vodafone Italia published its half-year results for the six months ended 30 September 2009.

Service revenue increased by 2.3% to € 4,291 m.

Growth in the current quarter slowed slightly in comparison to the previous quarter with positive momentum being maintained despite tougher economic conditions.

Optimisation of spending by customers was partially offset by continued penetration of high value contracts and successful usage initiatives.

SIMs at the end of the period were 29,146,000 (-3.4% YoY). Mobile voice traffic grew 3.7% to 27,1 bn minutes bringing traffic revenues to € 2,788 m

The higher penetration of PC connectivity devices and success of mobile internet services resulted in good growth in data revenue.

Fixed line revenue growth accelerated to € 379 m with a closing fixed broadband customer base of 1.1 million (including the acquired Tele2 brand).

EBITDA increased by 4.5% at constant exchange rates with the EBITDA margin also growing by 1.1 percentage points, primarily as a result of the increase in revenue, strict control on mobile acquisition and retention unit costs and stable operating expenses, despite continued investment in fixed line services.