The turbulence in the currency markets played a dirty trick on América Móvil in the fourth quarter of 2022. The strengthening of the Mexican peso (the currency in which it consolidates its balance sheets) against the rest of the currencies in the region, except for the Brazilian real, led to a drop in revenues (-2.4%), EBITDA (-4.4%) and operating income (-7.7%). Lastly, net income fell 89.6%. The Mexican peso also strengthened against the dollar.
However, these fluctuations covered a positive operating performance, which included the addition of 3.3 million net subscriptions, even discounting the cleaning of 4.1 million Brazilian subscriptions derived from the acquisition of Oi's mobile customers that did not generate traffic.
América Móvil also added 110,000 broadband accesses and 97,000 pay TV customers in the quarter. On the other hand, following a global trend, it lost 234,000 fixed voice access lines.
Revenues. Revenues for the fourth quarter totaled US$11.594.2 billion (at the US$ 1 = $18.63 exchange rate at the end of February 14), a decrease of 2.4% compared to the same period of the previous year (due to the appreciation of the Mexican peso).
Service revenues decreased by 1.4%, although at constant exchange rates, they increased by 6%. Eastern Europe led this performance with a 9.6% jump, followed by Brazil with 9% and Mexico with 5.7%.
Mobile and fixed revenues increased by 9.8% and 0.2%, respectively, at constant exchange rates. The expansion of mobile service revenues was driven by growth in postpaid revenues, which accelerated to 10.5%.
EBITDA was US$ 4.551,8 billion, down 4.4% from the fourth quarter of 2021 in nominal pesos. At constant exchange rates, EBITDA increased 2.3% year year-over-year. Adjusted for extraordinary items, EBITDA increased by 5%.
Operating income totaled US$ 2.4 billion, down 7.2% in Mexican peso terms. As the integral cost of financing totaled US$ 445.5 million, the final result from continuing operations was a net income of US$ 1.24 billion, up 5.3%. However, net income, including the effect of the deconsolidation of Claro Chile, was US$ 735.4 million, almost 90% less than a year earlier.
At the end of December, net debt -excluding leases- stood at US$ 20.853 billion and was equivalent to a net debt/EBITDA ratio of 1.3x.
Operating data. The performance of operating indicators was positive in the mobile market, with additions in postpaid and prepaid. Meanwhile, the wireline market showed a decline of 27,000 UGIs in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, América Móvil added 1.5 million postpaid customers organically, with Brazil, Austria, and Colombia leading the way in terms of customer base growth, with 599,000, 322,000, and 160,000, respectively. The prepaid segment registered a jump of 1.8 million customers organically, with an increase of 975,000 in Mexico, followed by Colombia (546,000) and Central America (247,000).
América Móvil achieved these results despite the cleaning of 4.1 million subscribers in Brazil, 2.6 million postpaid, and 1.5 million prepaid, due to the acquisition of Oi's mobile customers in May 2022, as they did not generate traffic.
In the fixed segment, América Móvil obtained 110,000 broadband accesses and 97,000 pay-TV customers, with a decrease of 234,000 voice access lines, with a net reduction of 27,000 UGIs in the quarter. At year-end, the conglomerate had 300 million mobile subscribers, of which 114 million were postpaid and 73 million UGIs, including 31 million broadband accesses, 13 million pay TV customers, and 29 million fixed lines.