• Total revenues €5,519 million, up 4.7% over 2007; TLC service revenues up 3.6% to 5,233 million
• EBITDA at €2,010 million, up 11% over the previous year; margin at 36.4% (vs 34.4% in 2007)
• EBIT up 32% reaching €963 million
• Group net profit of €385 million vs net profit of €198 million in 2007 (+94%)
• Net financial indebtedness at €6,070 million, Net debt / EBITDA 3.0x
• Increase in investments to €796 million
• Mobile customers grew 8% to 16.9 million
• Direct fixed-line customers up 24% over previous year to 1.77 million
• Broadband customers reached 1.36 million, growing 33%

Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A.’s Board of Directors, chaired by Naguib Sawiris, met to review and approve the company’s financial results for the year ended December 31, 2008.

2008 Consolidated results
2008 was another year of strong growth for Wind, on the backdrop of an economic slowdown and unfavourable regulatory environment. Wind generated total revenues of €5,519 million, with a growth of 4.7% with telecommunication service revenues reaching €5,233 million, up 3.6% over the previous year. Fixed-line and Internet service revenues grew by 5.8%, driven by a 10.8% increase in voice revenues and by broadband revenue growth (+23.2%), while mobile service revenues grew 2.7% over the prior year, mainly as a result of the strong growth of Mobile Internet revenues (+35.3% over 2007) and voice revenues.
EBITDA reached €2,010 as of December 31, 2008, up 11.0% over 2007, driven by growth in revenues, control on costs and certain non recurring items. The EBITDA margin was a solid 36.4%, a 2 percentage points increase over the previous year.
EBIT in 2008 exhibited a 32.0% growth reaching €963 million against €730 million in 2007. Wind reported a consolidated net profit of €385 million in 2008, a 94.2% growth over the profit of €198 million reported in 2007.

Wind increased its investments in 2008 to €796 million, up 6.3% over the previous year, mainly invested in the expansion of the HSDPA coverage, the optimization of the GSM/GPRS and UMTS coverage, and the further development of the unbundling (LLU) access infrastructure. Wind continued to invest significantly also in further quality upgrades and in customer service.

Wind’s net financial indebtedness as of December 31, 2008, was €6,070 million, falling versus the €6,440 million net debt recorded as of December 31, 2007. The strong cash flow generation enabled Wind to repay in advance, on October 22, 2008, the debt maturities scheduled for the end of 2009 and for the end of 2010 for a total amount of €412 million, shifting forward to 2011 the next debt maturity.

Q4 2008 results confirmed the strong growth trend recorded in the previous quarters. Total revenues reached €1,440 million, with a growth of 1.9% over the same period of 2007, due to mobile service revenue growth (+1.3%b YoY) and fixed-line service revenues increase (+0.2%). EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2008 reached €503 million, up 12.5% over 2007, with a 34.9% margin. Wind’s net profit in Q4 2008 was €111 million compared to a net profit of €254 million in Q4 2007, the latter being positively impacted by the disposal of a subsidiary.

Operational performance

Mobile
In 2008 Wind continued to pursue its mobile market growth strategy, which enabled the company to acquire 1,244 thousand new customers, net of deactivations, recording the best performance in the market. Wind’s mobile customer base reached 16.9 million, growing 8.0% over end of 2007.
Wind’s simple offer structure and tangible benefits for the customer enabled a strong growth of voice traffic, which reached 32.2 billion minutes, with both outgoing and incoming traffic growing approximately 10%, while the number of SMSs doubled over 2007 to 15.6 billion.
Mobile ARPU declined slightly in 2008, reaching €18.5 from €19.2 recorded in 2007, mainly as a result of the termination rate cut in July 2008 and mobile top-up recharge fee abolishment in March 2007. During the course of 2008 Wind continued to focus on its community offerings through the launch of new bundles thereby further enriching its product portfolio. The offering for the SME/SOHO segment was also strengthened through the launch of highly appealing bundles.
Wind continues to pursue its strategy focusing on delivering value to the customer, through the development of HSDPA Mobile Internet offerings, available in the 103 main Italian cities, with speeds up to 7.2 Mbps. Wind was the first operator in Italy to introduce time-based bundles for Mobile Internet which provide, for a fixed monthly fee, a set number of hours of Internet access. Wind’s Mobile Internet offering was at the center of its communication campaign during the course of the year with a television and billboard campaign in each of the major Italian cities.
As a result of the investments made in customer service Wind displayed a sharp increase in customer satisfaction surveys which positively impacted its churn rate.

Fixed-line and Internet
In 2008 Infostrada continued to expand its direct access network, which counted, as of December 31, 2008, 993 ULL sites (53% household coverage). This resulted in a sharp increase of the total direct customer base which reached 1.77 million, growing 23.8% over 2007. The success of Infostrada’s voice offerings, with 2.62 million customers (+9.9% over 2007), was further enhanced by the introduction of Wholesale Line Rental, selected by 304 thousand customers as of December 31, 2008, which extended its commercial proposition to those areas not directly covered by Infostrada’s network. The company recorded in 2008 a strong success of its dual-play offerings, chosen by 1.03 million customers at year end (+40.2% over 2007); this success enabled Infostrada to grow its broadband Internet customer base to 1.36 million as of December 31, 2008, up 32.6% over the previous year. In 2008 Infostrada recorded 333 thousand Broadband net adds, achieving an outstanding result throughout the year, further reinforced by 100 thousand net adds in the fourth quarter. Within the broadband customer base over 90% selected Infostrada’s flat rate tariff packages.
This solid performance was driven by a portfolio of offers that aim at satisfying the needs of the various market segments. The main voice tariff plans offered by Infostrada were “Happy Italy” (€9.95 per month with a flat 12 eurocents connection charge for local and national calls) and “Happy No Limit” (€19.95 per month offering unlimited calls to all the numbers of the national fixed-line network), including the free Internet ADSL offer (€1.9 per hour). These tariff plans were replicated also for the microbusiness segment but with different monthly fees. With the introduction of Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) in March 2008 those customers that lived in the areas outside of Infostrada’s direct coverage were able to disconnect from the incumbent selecting Infostrada as the sole voice operator for their calls.
WIND’s position as a convergent player was further strengthened with the options sold under the Infostrada brand for fixed-to-mobile calls. The renewed SME voice portfolio (3-8 lines) currently consists of “Happy Aziende”, available in areas both covered and not covered by the Infostrada network, and offers customers the possibility of disconnecting from the incumbent and then using either number portability or a new Infostrada number.
Fixed-line ARPU in 2008 increased by 1.6% to €37.9, driven by Voice ARPU. Broadband ARPU decreased to €18.6, mainly driven by increased competition and to certain aggressive promotions.
The success of Infostrada’s offering is further confirmed by the strong growth in traffic, up 10% to 17.4 billion minutes, mainly driven by the increase in incoming traffic (+32.6% over previous year).