Brand campaign spoils Salt's top result

Sales increased by 4.2 percent to CHF 520.2 million in the first six months, Salt parent company Matterhorn Telecom announced in its half-year report on Thursday. Operating profit before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) climbed 3.8 percent to 264.7 million francs. EBITDA was held back by expenses for a national brand campaign in May.

Net profit at Salt parent company Matterhorn Telecom fell significantly in the first half to CHF 52.8 million from CHF 92.8 million a year ago. However, the marked decline is attributable to the sale of cell phone antenna masts a year ago, which at the time had flushed a one-time gain of CHF 48.2 million into the coffers and thus pushed the result upward.

Significant customer growth

The third-largest telecom provider in Switzerland grew in all three business segments. In mobile telephony, Salt gained 42,800 net new subscription customers in the first half of the year. In the second quarter alone, Salt reported the strongest customer growth in ten years.

This resulted in a subscriber base of 1.419 million as of the end of June. The company owned by French telecoms entrepreneur Xavier Niel thus broke the 1.4 million subscriber barrier. The positive momentum also continued in broadband Internet and TV services, as well as in mobile communications for corporate customers.

By way of comparison, Swisscom was able to attract around 72,000 net additional mobile subscription customers in the first half of the year, Sunrise as many as 92,000.

All three providers have thus gained over 200,000 new customers in the first six months. One reason is the population growth in Switzerland, said Salt CEO Pascal Grieder in an interview with the news agency AWP on the sidelines of the media conference. Another reason is the increasing use of multiple mobile devices and therefore also SIM cards.

Attack on Swisscom and Sunrise at SMEs

In the micro and small business segment, Salt now wants to attack its competitors Swisscom and Sunrise in the fixed network as well. To this end, the number three is launching a new broadband and fixed-network telephony offering that aims to win SME customers from the two competitors with significantly cheaper prices.

Demand for the new residential subscriptions launched in July is very good, Grieder said. Roaming revenues, however, are still below pre-Corona levels, despite the travel boom this summer, and are unlikely to reach them again.

On the one hand, there are more subscriptions that include roaming packages, said Grieder. On the other hand, customers without roaming packages would be more reluctant to use their mobile devices abroad. "We therefore assume that the roaming peak is behind us," said the Salt CEO.

Dispute with Bakom settled

The dispute with the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) over excessive roaming limits, which led to bill shocks after returning from abroad, is over, he said. The limit has been lowered to 250 francs in the default settings, Grieder said. With the new subscriptions, the limit is even zero. Customers would first have to buy a roaming package, otherwise they would not be able to surf on their cell phones abroad.

Last year, consumer protection groups accused Salt of breaking the law with regard to roaming rates. Bakom had threatened the telecom provider with an injunction if Salt did not relent.

Looking ahead, Grieder is optimistic: "We had a very good first half and have carried good momentum into the second half."

The dispute between Swisscom and the Swiss Federal Competition Commission Weko over the type of fiber optic rollout has not yet been resolved. The Weko has stopped Swisscom's rollout, which also affects Salt, which has a cooperation agreement with Swisscom. As a result, Salt cannot put a six-digit number of fiber-optic connections into operation. (sda.)