Despite the year-over-year decline in revenues, Telefónica Brazil did not rule out acquisitions to strengthen its Vivo-branded Internet offerings, as it is linked to the acquisition of rival ISPs.
During the earnings call, David Melcon, Telefónica Brazil's chief financial officer, said that it is "always focused on market opportunities in various ways, which also includes fiber". The company is targeting 29 million Internet connections by the end of 2024, with 6 million coming from the joint venture FiBrasil and another 23 million from its Vivo brand.
Currently, Vivo has 21 million connections and is "on time" to reach its goal, which is why the operator is not rushing into acquisitions.
"If we were to face any M&A decisions in the future, it would depend on the overlap of the network, the quality of the network and the quality of the company being sold.
"M&A is complex [in terms of fiber]. We also need to understand how we will integrate our customer base, because one factor to consider is buying the network and the second is buying the customer [base]. We have a clear plan to get to 29 million and are building that with FiBrasil," Melcon said.
In its financial results for the second quarter of 2022, the company reported a 44.6 percent year-over-year decline in net income to BRL746 million ($140 million) due to higher expenses in its mobile division.
Operating costs soared 282% to BRL601 million as the company took on debt to pay for 5G licenses in the recent auction in Brazil and acquired the mobile assets of competitor Oi at higher interest rates.
EBITDA reached BRL 4.5 billion, up 8.3%, while net income rose 7.8% to BRL 11.8 billion.
