Entel is Chile's second largest operator by customer numbers and it reached a milestone during Q4 08, surpassing the 6m mark - although only just, with the end-quarter figure standing at 6.001m. Quarterly net additions stood at 150k, the highest figure of 2008 but the lowest fourth-quarter gain since 2002. Contract net additions exceeded prepaid for the third successive quarter, although the prepaid base did at least manage positive growth with a boost of 70k, reversing two successive quarters of net declines.

Proportionate annual growth slowed to an all-time low of 6.4%; indeed, this was the first time ever that a growth rate of less than 10% has been recorded in a calendar year. (The 2007 figure stood at 12.5%.) The prepaid base increased by just 1.6% in 2008, largely because of the net declines seen in Q2 and Q3. Contract growth was a more impressive 19.9%, although this was still less than half the 44.7% recorded in 2007. In real terms, annual net additions stood at 0.36m in 08, down from 0.63m in 07.

While customer growth has slowed - which is understandable given that the Chilean penetration rate is now approaching 95% - financial growth remained solid. Fourth-quarter mobile revenues were up 10.0% to Ch$218.4bn, while total revenues rose by 13.9% to Ch$296.3bn. In terms of EBITDA, mobile growth was not so strong with a gain of just 2.5% to Ch$84.2bn, although at the company level there was a 7.0% increase to Ch$107.3bn. The annual EBITDA figure rose by the same percentage to finish 2008 with a figure of Ch$423.1bn on the back of an 8.5% increase in annual revenues to Ch$1,066.9bn.

The fact that revenue growth exceeded customer growth implies a gain in ARPU, and this was indeed the case. In fact, the Q4 08 average of Ch$11,200 per month was the highest since the first quarter of 2003. This was driven by the rise in usage, with the Q4 08 AMPU figure of 174 minutes per month representing an all-time high. However, this does not seem to be the result of price cuts, as the effective price per minute has remained almost constant with a fourth-quarter figure of Ch$64.37 compared to Ch$64.78 a year earlier.

Posted to the site on 5th February 2009

Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/35865.php