O2 makes significant gains in mobile customers
Telecommunications provider Telefónica Deutschland (O2) has performed strongly in the race for customer favor. In the third quarter of 2023, the company added around 400,000 mobile customers after deducting cancellations, around a third more than in the second quarter (around 300,000), the company announced in Munich on Tuesday. This was the best figure since the end of 2021.
The competition has not yet published any figures for the past quarter; in the period before that, there had been a neck-and-neck race between Telekom and O2. The third German network operator, Vodafone, on the other hand, had lost significant ground.
Mobile telephony is O2's core business, the fixed network plays more of a secondary role - here the company does not rely on its own lines, but has rented capacity from other companies. One reason for the increase in customer numbers may have been a better price-performance ratio than a few years ago. At that time, O2's network coverage was nowhere near as good as that of its competitors. However, O2 largely made up for this shortfall by investing heavily. CEO Markus Haas was satisfied: "After a strong third quarter, we are fully on track to achieve our targets for the 2023 financial year."
The revenue of the German subsidiary of the Spanish Telefónica Group reportedly rose by 2.2 percent to 2.1 billion euros in the third quarter, with the mobile service business being the growth driver. The profit for the period - i.e. the net profit - increased by six percent to 41 million euros. Telefónica Deutschland has around 7,500 full-time employees; in addition to the headquarters in Munich, the former E-Plus headquarters in Düsseldorf is a major company location.
However, there is a dark cloud on O2's horizon. This is because the company currently receives a portion of its revenue from its competitor 1&1, whose cell phone customers primarily use the O2 network. In the summer or fall of 2024, however, 1&1 will gradually switch to a cooperation with Vodafone instead. As a result, O2 will gradually receive fewer rental payments from 1&1. When 1&1 and Vodafone announced their alliance in August, Telefónica Deutschland's share price plummeted. It has still not recovered from this setback.
In the realm of telecommunications, O2's impressive quarterly figures for the third quarter of 2023 revealed an addition of 400,000 mobile customers, a significant increase from the previous quarter. This growth in Internet subscribers is a testament to the company's improved price-performance ratio and strengthened network coverage.
Source: www.dpa.com
