- Consolidated revenues increased by 19.4% to euro 30.2m for the 2nd quarter '07.
- Forthnet reached 162,840 Broadband subscribers(1) at the end of June.
- Record number of net additions for the 2nd quarter '07 at 34,869.
- By end of August '07 Broadband subscribers1 reached 180,000 with 32,500 over ULL
- ULL is accelerating with 10,000 activations during the month of August.
- The network development is progressing smoothly.
Local Loop Unbundling
Forthnet's continuous strengthening of its Broadband subscriber base is accelerating with an increasing focus on the unbundling and migration of customers to double-play product, confirming its leading position in the Greek Altnet Broadband market.
At the end of June '07, Forthnet's Broadband subscribers(1) reached 162,840, adding 34,869 new subscribers during the 2nd quarter. This is the best result in net additions so far for a single quarter. As of June end '07, Forthnet's active ULL customers amounted to 15,280. Since its launch, Forthnet 2Play is posting a record growth both in applications and activations, contributing over 3/4 of Forthnet's ULL subscriber base.
The company is recording a steady improvement in the pace of unbundling with 10,000 ULL activations during the month of August, reaching a total number of active ULL Forthnet subscribers of 32,500 as of August end '07.
During the 2nd quarter of '07, Forthnet reported total revenues of euro 30.2m recording a 19.4% growth for the quarter driven by new customers and the strong uptake of the ULL products.
Revenues for the 1st half of 2007 amounted to euro 56.7m, recording a 15.4% growth for the period. Reported EBITDA for the period was loss-making at euro 13.3m, against a profit of euro 0.3m in 1H '06 mainly due to the new subscriber acquisitions costs (euro 11.0m) coupled with the non-existent margins of wholesale ADSL. Net result after tax and minority interest stood at a loss of euro 17m compared to losses of euro 5.7m in 1H '06. The Company has stepped up its Capex spending to euro 19.7m for the 1st half of '07 against euro 9.3m in the same period of '06. Forthnet's Balance Sheet is posting strong liquidity with cash & cash equivalent standing at euro 64.9m as of June 30th '07. Furthermore, since end of June '06, the Company has put in place an undrawn stand-by Credit Facility of up to euro 150m to finance its investment plan.
Collocation sites and Forthnet Network
To date, OTE has delivered(2) 92 Exchanges corresponding to a footprint of 47% coverage whilst the Company is already offering its ULL services through 61 Exchanges and completing the installation of active network equipment to the remaining ones. In accordance with the binding agreement with OTE, the Company expects to have gained access to all the mutually agreed collocation sites by 1st quarter of 2008.
The Company is progressing well with its backbone network with Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa and Volos fibre optic network (MANs) for the interconnection of the collocated exchanges having extended to 214km. Finally, Forthnet expects to operate the Athens-Thessaloniki link in October '07.
Forthnet is Greece's largest alternative broadband operator. It provides data, Internet and fixed line telephony services to 500,000 residential and corporate customers.
(1) Net Active Wholesale & Unbundled ADSL and 2PLAY subscribers plus new subscribers pending activation by OTE (2) Site preparation, power provision, A/C and local loop deployment.