América Móvil reports Q4 results
América Móvil ended the fourth quarter of 2014 with a 77.8% net profit decline. In its financial report, the company owned by billionaire Carlos Slim claimed that an increase in comprehensive financing costs was caused by unrealized foreign exchange losses. América Móvil noted that the U.S. dollar rose 12.6% in the quarter against the Mexican peso, 13.4% against the Brazilian real, 24.2% against the Colombian peso and 13.6% against the euro.
For Q4 2014, América Móvil’s total revenues were $15.25 billion, an increase over the $14.86 billion from Q4 2013. América Móvil finished the year with a net debt of $35.49 billion, up from $34.50 billion the previous year or the equivalent of 1.7 times the EBITDA for the last 12 months, adjusting for the company’s currency exposure.
As for customers, América Móvil said it ended 2014 with 368 million access lines, 8.4% more than a year earlier, reflecting the consolidation of Telekom Austria. Of that number, 289 million were wireless subscribers. Brazil is the company’s largest and fastest-growing market with 107.2 million accesses, a 5.7% increase from the year before.
Argentina and China sign agreement: The governments of Argentina and China have signed a memorandum of understanding. Although the nuclear power and space technology portion of the agreement made news headlines, the MOU also covered an increased cooperation in the telecommunications sector. The MOU was signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner during her state visit to China, a visit Fernandez de Kirchner described as a new beginning for bilateral relations.
More news from the Latin American region:
CHILE – Ericsson and Entel Chile extended their strategic partnership until 2018. During this period, Ericsson will be in charge of modernizing Entel’s 2G, 3G and 4G radio access core network and deploying its LTE network in the APT 700 MHz band.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Claro will invest $728.4 million this year in its Dominican Republic operations.
BOLIVIA – Tigo has a $100 million investment plan for 2015 focused on increasing its network capacity, including its fiber optic network.
CUBA – The Telecommunications Company of Cuba announced some changes in the mobile space, including the expansion of temporary contracts from three to 12 months. Cubans are now allowed to own three mobile lines.
LATAM – Ciena posted five tech trends for the Latin American region in 2015. The telecom network equipment supplier predicts that SDN/NFV will become more popular, and real projects will be launched. Also, Ciena expects that mobile data consumption as well as streaming and 4K video will increase pressure on metropolitan networks.
CUBA – Netflix has begun offering service in Cuba, starting at $7.99 per month for customers with international payment cards.
BRAZIL – Mobile commerce in Brazil generated $1.22 billion last year, according to Fecomercio. That amount represents 9.7% of total e-commerce revenues in 2014. Smartphones were the most used devices at 56%, followed by tablets.
PERU – A fiber optic network connecting 180 district capitals should be ready by July 2016. The project is expected to cost $333 million.
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