• Total revenues up 4.7% over 2008 to €5,726 million, driven by TLC service revenues growth (up 5.2% over last year)
• EBITDA reaches €2,064 million, growing 2.7% over the previous year; margin at 36.0%
• EBIT up 18.3% reaching €1,139 million
• Group net profit of €308 million vs net profit of €385 million recorded in 2008
• Strong cash flow generation of €572 million
• Net financial indebtedness at €8,541 million
• Mobile customers growing 9.0% to 18.4 million
• Fixed-line voice customers at 2.8 million, up 8.5% over previous year, driven by strong growth of direct customers, which exceed 2 million as of December 31, 2009 (+16.2% over last year)
• Broadband customers reached 1.64 million, growing 21.2%
• Strong performance in fourth quarter

Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A.’s Board of Directors met today to review and approve the company’s financial results for the year ended December 31, 2009.

2009 Consolidated results

2009 was another year of strong growth for Wind, notwithstanding the economic slowdown and unfavourable regulatory environment. Wind generated total revenues of €5,726 million, an increase of 4.7% over 2008 driven by telecommunication service revenues growth of 5.2% over previous year, reaching €5,450 million. Mobile service revenues reached €3,663 million in 2009, growing 2.9% over the prior year, mainly as a result of the strong performance of Mobile Internet revenues and voice revenues, notwithstanding the impact of the interconnection rate cut, while fixed-line and Internet service revenues grew by 10.1% to €1,788 million, including the impact of the acquisition of M-Link in early 2009.
EBITDA reached €2,064 million, up 2.7% over previous year, notwithstanding the lower impact of positive non-recurring items versus 2008. This solid result, arising from the combined effect of the strong top-line performance coupled with a control on costs, was nevertheless negatively impacted by the increase of the ULL and WLR fees. The EBITDA margin was a solid 36.0%.
EBIT in 2009 exhibited a 18.3% growth over last year, reaching €1,139 million, against €963 million recorded in 2008.
Wind reported a consolidated net profit of €308 million in 2009, declining over the net profit figure of €385 million recorded in 2008, as a result of higher taxes and interest expenses which increased by €117 million over previous year.
In particular, as of December 31, 2009, Wind’s net financial indebtedness was €8,541 million, growing versus €6,070 million recorded as of December 31, 2008 due to the issuance of €2.7 billion senior notes in July 2009, which resulted in an increase of Net Debt/EBITDA to 4.1x from an organic level of 2.7x. The proceeds from the bond issuance were distributed as dividends to Wind’s shareholders, in order to repay debt and, in particular, the PIK loan maturing in 2011 for an amount of approximately €2 billion at Wind’s parent, WAHF.
The strong cash flow generation recorded during the year allowed Wind to repay in advance, in January 2010, the debt maturity scheduled for June 2011 for an amount of €336 million.

Wind’s capex in 2009 reached €915 million, up 15.0% over the previous year, mainly invested in the expansion and in the strengthening of its HSDPA coverage and in the enhancement and the further development of the unbundling (LLU) access infrastructure. This figure includes also the 5MHz block spectrum purchased by Wind for approximately €89 million.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Wind’s growth trend accelerated further, with total revenues reaching €1,496 million, up 4.9% over the same period of 2008, mainly due to service revenue growing 5.9% YoY and reaching €1,413 million. EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2009 reached €526 million, up 4.7% over the same period of 2008, with a 35.2% margin.

Operational performance

Mobile
In 2009 Wind continued to expand its customer base reaching 18.4 million subscribers, up 9.0% over the previous year, with over 1.5 million new customers, net of deactivations, acquired during the year, of which 500 thousand achieved in the fourth quarter of the year alone, as a result of the successful Christmas campaign. This result allowed Wind to record the best performance in the market in terms of new subscriber acquisitions. The growth was ensured by a coherent strategy centered on simple and straight forward customer propositions at the right price and delivered with best in class customer service.
Mobile ARPU in 2009 was €17.4, declining over the previous year mainly as a result of the interconnection rate cut in July 2009.
The sharp increase in customer base coupled with a highly effective community proposition contributed to the strong growth in voice traffic volumes which grew 10.4% YoY driven by increases in both outgoing and incoming off-net traffic and by the impressive growth recorded in the number of SMSs sent during the year (+55.3% over 2008 to 24.3 billion).
During the course of 2009, Wind continued to pursue its data strategy focusing on deploying its HSDPA mobile Internet offerings, based on time-based bundles, available with speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on all Wind UMTS network. Mobile Internet revenues grew 67.4% over previous year.
Wind also rolled out its “All inclusive” offerings, which include a bundle of minutes, messages, data traffic and handsets for a monthly fee, targeted at the high value and SME/SOHO segments.

Fixed-line and Internet
During 2009, Infostrada continued to post a strong performance, both in terms of revenues and market share. Direct voice customers exceeded, as of December 31, 2009, the 2 million mark, growing 16.2% over the end of 2008. The success of Infostrada’s voice offerings, further enhanced by the strong results of Wholesale Line Rental and Bitstream offerings, altogether selected by more than 480 thousand customers as of December 31, 2009, resulted in a sharp customer base increase, up 8.5% over the previous year to 2.84 million subscribers. The successful positioning of Infostrada’s offerings was further confirmed by 83 thousand direct net additions and 22 thousand WLR/Bitstream net additions in the last quarter of the year alone. Infostrada’s performance was further enhanced by its highly effective communication strategy coupled with a uniform proposition that enables it to deploy its offering portfolio throughout the country, including areas not directly covered by the Infostrada network.
The company recorded a solid performance also in its broadband business with a customer base in excess of 1.64 million subscribers at year end, up 21.2% over last year, with 85 thousand net additions in the fourth quarter of 2009.
As a result of its appealing offerings addressing the various market requirements and segments, Infostrada also continued to build on the success of its dual-play offerings, with its customer base growing by 29% to over 1.33 million subscribers, having achieved 86 thousand net adds in the last quarter alone.
Fixed-line ARPU in 2009 was €35.4, slightly declining over previous year as a result of a decrease in Voice ARPU, mainly attributable to interconnection rate cut, not fully compensated by the increase in Data ARPU. Broadband ARPU was €18.3 in 2009, substantially stable over last year.
In 2009, total voice traffic exceeded 18.9 billion minutes, up 8.6% over 2008, driven by the increase in both outgoing and incoming off-net traffic, as a result of the better mix in Infostrada’s customer base.