Back to Press Releases Telefónica Germany
12.11.2009

O2 wins almost half a million new customers

A speaker icon, representing the "Read page aloud" feature
  • 487,000 new mobile and DSL customers in the third quarter
  • Operating result (OIBDA) increases by +22.4 percent compared to the same quarter of previous year
  • Record revenue in the quarter: € 966 million (+5.5 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year)
MUNICH. Telefónica O2 Germany generated a record revenue and at the same time gained almost half a million new customers in the third quarter. From July to September 2009, the total number of customers grew by 487,000 to 15.7 million. 468,000 of them were new mobile customers. The mobile tariff O2 o which was launched in May substantially contributed to the customer increase. Compared to the same quarter of last year, the operating result (OIBDA) rose by 22.4 percent to account for € 235 million. At the same time, Telefónica O2 Germany generated the highest quarterly revenue in the history of the company based on mobile telecommunications and DSL amounting to € 966 million (+5.5 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year).
"More than 1.2 million new mobile customers since the beginning of the year have made us the most rapidly growing provider in Germany", says René Schuster, the CEO of Telefónica O2 Germany. "It shows that our simple, customer-friendly tariffs and our attractive hardware portfolio meet the requirements of customers." O2 has invested more than € 2.5 billion in the last three years, particularly in the network expansion and today operates one of the best and most state-of-the-art data networks in Germany. Growth driven by mobile data services O2 was able to continuously expand the company's offers for the mobile internet and data services and position itself as one of the leading providers in this field. "Revenue from mobile internet data services has increased by one third compared to the same period last year", André Krause, the CFO of Telefónica O2 Germany, emphasizes. "Mobile data is the most significant growth market for telecommunications providers. O2 is excellently positioned in this field", Krause says. In October, O2 launched Palm Pre in Germany - one of the most highly regarded smart phones for the mobile internet. O2 will continue to expand its position in the mobile internet market with new hardware and tariff offers.
Business development of Telefónica O2 Germany
Number of customers, revenue and ARPU Telefónica O2 Germany was again able to significantly increase the number of mobile and DSL customers and registered a total number of 15.7 million customers at the end of the quarter. 8.0 million of them are mobile customers with prepaid contracts and 7.4 million are customers with postpaid contracts. One reason for the successful business from new customers was the simplified tariff portfolio focusing on O2 o. "O2 o has excellently positioned itself on the market", Krause says. The partner business with Tchibo, Hansenet, Kabel Deutschland, Schlecker, M-Net and the group's discount brand Fonic developed very positively as well. It substantially contributed to the growth of customers. The number of unbundled broadband connections in the DSL wholesale business which was integrated into the Business Customer Group of Telefónica O2 Germany in July amounted to 1.6 million - an increase of 28 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. O2 registered 272,000 own DSL customers at the end of the quarter corresponding to an increase of 38 percent. With € 966 million, the company generated the highest quarterly revenue so far - an increase of 5.5 percent compared to the same period of last year. One reason for this positive trend was the new business model O2 My Handy which offers hardware and tariffs separately. The services revenue from mobile offers fell nominally by 0.4 percent to € 729 million. Adjusted by the effect of the termination rate reduced by the Federal Network Agency, the services revenue increased by 2.1 percent compared to the same period of last year. The Average Revenue per User (ARPU) of € 15.7 remained unchanged compared to the last quarter. The ARPU decreased by 9.2 percent year-on-year due to the termination rate which was reduced in April and customers switching to cheaper tariffs in 2008. Investments in the network expansion and sales network In the third quarter, Telefónica O2 Germany invested € 192 million. One focus was the expansion of the mobile telecommunications network which, like the DSL network, is one of the best data networks in Germany. In Munich, the company was the first provider to start a pilot test for HSPA+ in November enabling mobile download rates of up to 28 MBit per second and upload rates of up to 5.76 MBit per second. With 60 new sales branches the sales network significantly grew in the quarter under review as well. After Munich and Berlin, O2 opened the third flagship store in Cologne and today operates more than 850 shops across Germany.
Telefónica O2 Germany GmbH & Co. OHG belongs to Telefónica Europe and is part of the Spanish telecommunication group Telefónica S.A. The Company offers its German private and business customers postpaid and prepaid mobile telecom products as well as innovative mobile data services based on the GPRS and UMTS technologies. In addition, the integrated communications provider also offers DSL fixed network telephony and high-speed internet. Telefónica Europe has nearly 49 million mobile and fixed network customers in Great Britain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.