Swisscom’s ongoing investment in fiber rollouts looks to be hitting its balance sheet, with year-on-year falls in profit and revenue during 1Q12.
The Swiss incumbent’s net income fell 3.8% to 456 million Swiss francs ($499.3 million) during the quarter, as revenue fell 2.1% to 2.8 billion francs. The declines appear to stem from rising capex costs during the quarter – up 24.1% year-on-year to 366 million francs - though the firm also accrued more expenses by growing its overall headcount through company acquisitions, network expansion and growing customer service resources.
Fastweb, the firm’s ISP business, saw revenues fall 2.8% year-on-year on the back of lower wholesale interconnection income, and higher subscriber acquisition costs. The division added 59,000 new customers during the quarter.
The results give Swisscom confidence in its full year outlook, which predicts EBITDA of 4.4 billion francs and revenue of 11.4 billion francs. The telco is budgeting 2.2 billion francs on capex for the year – 1.7 billion francs of which will be pumped into its domestic business.