Dynamic beginning of the year 2024 – improvement in all key operational and financial factors

At the end of the first quarter of 2024 T-Mobile Poland customer base amounted to 12,6 million. This represents a steady net increase of 22 thousand year-on-year. This was made possible by significant growth of the postpaid customer base – by 198 thousand y-o-y. On the other hand, the impact of this customer growth was masked by the 150 thousand decline in prepaid cards due to the decision to switch off another large batch of unused prepay SIM cards, originally distributed to refugees from Ukraine as a part of relief actions. More importantly, customers are increasingly more likely to choose higher and richer plans, which has had a positive impact on T-Mobile’s revenues. In connection with a consistent growth of FTTH customer base and constantly improving convergent offer sales this led to one of the strongest first quarters in years: EBITDA AL growth by 3.3% y-o-y, reaching the level of 453 million PLN with Total Service Revenues growing by a solid 5.8%. At the same time total revenues increased up by almost 1% and reaching 1,7 billion PLN.

Our market approach is based on providing the highest quality of network and service with a strong focus on customer satisfaction. All of this we do in a highly responsible manner, in line with our ambitious ESG goals. The best technology was particularly in focus this quarter, as we launched the biggest 5G C-band network, enabling us to reach customers with mobile services of unprecedented quality, rivalling even the fiber connections. We can see that customers who have been given the opportunity to test the full 5G capabilities are more likely to choose higher plans that offer them even more than before – said Andreas Maierhofer, CEO of T-Mobile Polska. Recently we recorded 1 million users of our Magenta Moments engagement program which clearly shows that the customers appreciate the benefits they receive just by being with us. We have also launched the Magenta Experience Center to be even closer with our customers as in this first such flagship store, they can experience the T-Mobile world.

 

Despite the decline in inflation compared to the year 2023, the impact of prices growing in the last quarters are very noticeable. This quarter was the first one in which the operator's result were affected by the effects of wage increases introduced in the previous year. The company also had to cope with higher costs for almost all external services as well as an increase of shop rent prices, indexed in relation to the inflation last year. The vPPA energy contract, which allowed T-Mobile to offset the energy price increases, very noticeable last year, keeps on yielding positive results, as the operators energy needs are covered 100% in green sources, including the wind and solar farms built especially for the needs of this project. Also, the C-band 5G rollout process – initiated in the spring of 2023 – was being continued throughout the whole period, allowing T-Mobile to achieve and maintain leadership in this area.

It has been a strong start to the year, both operationally and financially. The combination of the deactivation of unused prepaid cards, the negative effects of MTR regulation and still rising prices constitutes a real challenge. Fortunately, with our impressive commercial momentum, which resulted in growth in all key operational and financial factors, we were not only able to overcome all the obstacles, but also to achieve a solid growth and keep going strong – said Juraj Andras, CFO of T-Mobile Polska.Actually, seeing the 5.8% growth in Total Service Revenues makes it one of the most dynamic first quarters in the last years. This shows that we are not only ready to deal with challenges when it is needed but also to successfully compete on the market and deliver results in all circumstances.

Growth in B2C segment powered by 5G

T-Mobile's main objective in the first quarter of 2024 was to provide customers with offers that make the superfast 5G network even more accessible, both on smartphones and in the home internet offering. Investments in the network and services had a positive impact on mobile subscription sales, which increased by 15% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. T-Mobile also achieved steady growth in converged solutions in the first quarter. The operator saw an increase in sales of bundled home services, which accounted for almost 45% of T-Mobile's fiber contracts signed in the period. The operator’s advertising campaign promoting 5G Bardziej was also very well received by customers, further accelerating sales in the B2C segment.

Continuing its product synergy strategy, T-Mobile made the Red Bull TV VOD collection available to all MagentaTV customers, strengthening its partnership with the Red Bull brand and offering customers an even greater variety of content to watch.

In Q1, the operator also focused on growing the prepaid segment, offering T-Mobile prepaid customers a bundle of up to 5,200 GB. In addition, to mark the launch of the 5G More network, T-Mobile offered all T-Mobile prepaid, Heyah prepaid, Heyah MIX and MIX customers free 5G More network access for several months, regardless of their plan.

Powering Polish companies

In the area of corporate solutions, T-Mobile focused on promoting its T Business offering, which consists of 7 different product lines: Mobile, Next Generation Connectivity, Cybersecurity, Modern Workplace, ERP, Smart City / IoT and Data Centre & Cloud. Similarly to the previous quarters, in the higher business segment the operator recorded consistently growing interest in cybersecurity products. Among the interesting projects completed in the first quarter, it is worth to mention the launch of a measuring buoy allowing water quality control in the Vistula River at the level of Kraków. T-Mobile also announced that it had won tenders to provide services to PGW Wody Polskie and the Polish Mining Group.

In the smaller business segment, the MagentaBIZNES offer, which now includes access to the 5G Bardziej network, is enjoying steadily growing customer interest. In March, T-Mobile unveiled a new advertising campaign prepared in cooperation with entrepreneurs who are regular customers of the magenta network. The cybersecurity offer aimed at entrepreneurs has been very successful in this sector too, with the number of customers of the ‘Secure Network’ service exceeding 100,000 in the first quarter.

Dynamic 5G network rollout

In terms of technology and providing T-Mobile customers with the best network experience one topic dominated the developments in Q1: preparations for the launch of 5G on C-band, the launch and subsequent network rollout. To make sure that the operator would be ready to bring online successive C-band base stations immediately after receiving the appropriate permissions, the main phase of preparations had been initiated in 2023. A large number of sites received upgrade to new generation hardware and T-Mobile developed its fiber network in order to connect the majority of updated sites with fast optical connections. Thanks to all that, after the 5G Bardziej network unveiling on January 19th, the operator successfully executed a lightning-fast rollout, quickly passing the 25% population coverage milestone. After finalizing the first phase of the rollout, based on the infrastructure prepared before the launch, T-Mobile moved on to implementing the organic upgrade process, which currently results in 2187 C-band sites being available to T-Mobile customers, with over 26% of Poland’s population in range. Currently, almost 90% of all T-Mobile’s own C-band capable sites are fiber connected.

The MNO continued to invest in its backbone infrastructure. In Q1 it built up almost 200 km of its own fiber and upgraded its global internet exchange points to 800 Gb/s connections.

It is clear that higher connection comfort encourage customers to be more active online. The data traffic in T-Mobile network grew 16% y-o-y in the first quarter exceeded 800 petabytes. Another key process in the terms of service quality is the ongoing adoption of the VoLTE standard. Currently almost 80% of all voice connections in T-Mobile are powered by VoLTE or VoWiFi. T-Mobile customers can also take full advantage of the highest connection quality also outside of Poland, as VoLTE is also available in roaming in 32 countries with 43 different foreign operators.

Social responsibility in focus

T-Mobile has also consistently delivered on its commitment to the ESG strategy, which is an integral part of its mission and values, and ambitious ESB goals. Through its actions, the company aims to achieve full climate neutrality by 2040 and promotes sustainability, taking care of the environment, society and effective governance.

In the first quarter of 2024, T-Mobile continued its commitment to the #HejtOut campaign and expanded it with the new initiative #HejtOutLoveIn, which gained huge popularity on the TikTok platform, with more than 20 million impressions. The campaign not only attempted to draw attention to the problem of hate speech online, but to promote positive attitudes online.

Supporting seniors in the use of new technologies is also one of the priorities for T-Mobile. A special helpline for seniors has been awarded the prestigious OK Senior certificate by the National Institute of the Senior Economy. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, the helpline handled more than 36,000 calls, demonstrating its importance and effectiveness in providing support and information to seniors.

The operator also continued its actions aimed at achieving full product circularity in 2030. In the ‘Old Phones Work Wonders’ campaign every old smarphone submitted for recycling in one of T-Mobile’s stores contributes towards supporting the Szlachetna Paczka charity foundation.