Preliminary annual results:Telefónica Deutschland closes 2021 as record year

This operational development also translated into financial improvements. Revenue increased on a broad basis by 3.1% to 7.765 billion euros. The company had forecast a slightly positive year-on-year development here for the financial year. Mobile service revenue climbed 3.5% to a record EUR 5.492 billion. In addition to the strong core brand O₂, the partner business and the business customer unit also continued to perform well. In the partner business, Lebara, a prominent new entrant, was acquired for the Telefónica Deutschland network for the financial year 2022. In the Business Customers segment, the company recorded sustained strong momentum. Numerous new customers were acquired for O₂ Business, including various large enterprises. The company was also able to tap into new markets in the areas of 5G campus networks and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, winning new customers for these future technologies in the form of Helios and Dataport, for example. Sales revenue from Hardware increased by 1.9% to EUR 1.450 billion in the fiscal year. This continued the trend of recent years, with increasing demand for high-quality terminal equipment. Fixed-network business continued to develop positively. Here, revenue increased by 3.6 percent to EUR 814 million.

The very good development in the 2021 financial year was also supported by strong momentum in the fourth quarter. The number of mobile postpaid net additions recorded strong growth with more than 518,000 net additions. Revenue increased by 1.6% to EUR 2.055 billion in Q4 2021, mainly driven by the continued strong performance of the core brand O₂. Mobile service revenue climbed 2.6% to EUR 1.394 billion. The partner business and business customer segment also developed solidly in the reporting period. OIBDA adjusted for exceptional effects decreased by 2.3% to EUR 624 million in Q4 2021, mainly due to temporary increases in commercial and non-commercial costs. Among other things, this is reflected in COVID-19-related postponement of marketing expenses into the second half of the year. With the increased marketing spend in the final quarter of 2021, commercial momentum and brand awareness should already be strengthened with a view to fiscal 2022.

In addition to operational and financial improvements, Telefónica Deutschland continued to drive forward the expansion of its network and the improvement of the customer experience in the financial year 2021. With around EUR 1.3 billion, the company invested over 17% more than ever before in the expansion of its mobile network and the satisfaction of its customers. Telefónica Deutschland is rolling out the new mobile technology 5G at record speed. At the end of the year, around 30% of the German population was covered by the company's 5G, and this figure is set to rise to 50% by the end of 2022. In 4G, the company achieved population coverage of over 99% by the end of 2021, with largely full coverage of key transport routes. 4G area coverage is benefiting from the faster than originally planned 3G network shutdown at the end of 2021, with additional sites in underserved regions to be added via sharing agreements in gray areas during 2022. In parallel, the company is developing further white spots in network coverage on its own and in cooperation with its competitors. In 2022, the company again plans to invest more than EUR 1 billion.