Digi Communications reports consolidated revenues of 921.3 million euros, up 13 percent in the first six months of 2024

Digi Communications, one of the leading European telecommunications companies, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, reports consolidated revenues (including revenues and other income) of EUR 474.7 million in the second quarter of 2024, a 13.4 percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 16.5 percent compared to the result from Q2 2023, reaching EUR 170.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding the impact of IFRS 16, increased 15.6 percent year-on-year to EUR 144.7 million.

This performance is underpinned by solid growth in strategic markets and aligns with the management’s projections for the first half of 2024. Consequently, in the first semester of 2024, the Group recorded consolidated revenues of EUR 921.3 million, a 13 percent increase versus 6M 2023, adjusted EBITDA of EUR 333.3 million (+19.1 percent vs 6M 2023) and adjusted EBITDA excluding the IFRS 16 impact of EUR 284.6 million (+19.3 percent vs 6M 2023).

Serghei Bulgac, CEO of Digi Communications, stated: “We are thrilled with the sustained strong performance of our Group across all our markets. The first half of the year marked a significant milestone as we surpassed 25 million customers, driven by an impressive year-on-year increase in the Spanish market of 23.2 percent in the mobile segment and 50.6 percent in broadband. Our most recent initiatives will further fuel this momentum in the future as we are now well-positioned to transition from a mobile virtual network operator to a full-fledged mobile network operator in Spain, allowing us to roll out our own mobile network. Additionally, our newly announced strategic acquisitions will enable us to solidify our position in both well-established and emerging markets, supporting our organic growth trajectory. This expanding geographic diversification, strong growth prospects, and balanced leverage are key assets for our Group. We are happy that these major advantages of our business model were also recognized by Fitch Ratings, which recently assigned Digi Communications a ‘BB’/Stable rating.”

In Q2 2024, Digi Communications continued its growth trajectory across all service portfolios, registering a 14 percent YoY increase, reaching 25.534 million RGUs across Romania, Spain, and Italy. The company’s diverse offerings include mobile and fixed-line telephony, broadband data services, and Pay TV. In Romania, Digi operates a state-of-the-art fibre optic network for fixed and mobile telecommunication, broadband and entertainment solutions. In Spain, Digi provides mobile, broadband, and fixed-line services, and in Italy, the Group offers mobile services.

The mobile division delivered the most revenue-generating user agreements (RGUs) within the Group, accounting for 47 percent of the overall RGUs in the three markets. Maintaining its momentum from past quarters, in Q2 2024, the mobile segment saw the RGUs climb to 11.961 million, a 19 percent YoY increase, covering mobile telephony clients across Romania, Spain, and Italy.

In Romania, the mobile service segment reached 6.207 million RGUs as of the end of Q2 2024, an increase of 15.1 percent compared to Q2 2023. Fixed internet services registered a growth of 7.3 percent YoY in Q2 2024, up to 4.712 million RGUs, while the Pay-TV services (cable and satellite) segment increased by 3.5 percent compared to Q2 2023, up to 5.773 million RGUs. The total number of RGUs in the Romanian market amounted to 17.561 million customers as of the end of Q2 2024, a 8 percent YoY increase.

Spanish operations continued to grow well into Q2 2024, with the number of users of fixed services, internet, and mobile telephony increasing by 30.1 percent compared to Q2 2023 to 7.517 million RGUs. Mobile users increased by 23.2 percent to 5.298 million RGUs, while broadband users increased by 50.6 percent YoY, to 1.675 million RGU. An important development in the Spanish market was the signing, in July 2024, by Digi Spain, of the national roaming agreement (NRA) and a RAN sharing agreement with Telefónica for a period of 16 years. These agreements, effective from January 1st, 2025, will replace the existing MVNO agreement and include the sharing of mobile spectrum in the 3,500 MHz frequency band. Digi Spain has also entered a 10-year fixed broadband bitstream wholesale agreement with Telefónica, with an option to extend. These agreements, along with the recent spectrum license purchase in Spain, will allow Digi to transition from a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to a mobile network operator (MNO) and roll out its own mobile network in the country.

In Italy, mobile users increased by 16.6 percent YoY, reaching 456K RGUs as of the end of Q2 2024.

In terms of new territories, Digi’s strategic initiatives in Portugal and Belgium are paving the way for future expansions. Digi’s local subsidiaries are preparing to launch commercial services in these two markets in 2024. Moreover, in early August, it was announced that Digi Portugal entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Cabonitel S.A. The acquisition includes Nowo Communications, S.A., Portugal’s fourth-largest mobile and fixed telecom operator, wholly owned by Cabonitel. Nowo Communications serves approximately 270,000 mobile telephony clients and 130,000 fixed telecommunications clients nationwide. The completion of the transaction is subject to clearance from the Portuguese competition authority.