Telefónica's results for the fourth quarter of 2022 showed the firm with growth in both operating, revenues, and profits.

In the last quarter of last year, Telefónica achieved total revenues of € 10.2 billion, a growth of 5.4% compared to the same period of 2021. This percentage was higher than the overall growth for the year (1.8% and 39.993 billion), indicating a faster pace of sales in the October-December period.

In the case of OIBDA, the difference was much more pronounced. In the last quarter of the year, it recorded € 3,259 billion, with an exponential jump of 139.2% compared to the same period in 2021. On the other hand, when measured in annual terms, the € 12.852 billion implied a reduction of 41.5% compared to the previous year as a whole.

At this point, it is worth remembering that Telefónica's 2021 balance sheet was bolstered by extraordinary income of € 12.6 billion, which was reduced to € 2 billion this year, thus modifying the more general picture.

This also explains the variations in net income. In the fourth quarter of 2022, it amounted to € 525 million, compared to a loss of € 1.198 billion in the same period of 2021, a result that had been impacted by the high financial costs charged in that quarter. For the entire year, the € 2.011 billion net income earned by Telefónica in 2022 represents a 70% drop compared to what it achieved a year earlier when it totaled € 8.137 billion.

José María Álvarez-Palette, Telefónica's CEO, noted: "We have met all of our financial targets for 2022, which we revised upwards in the first half results." He detailed that "not only do we continue to report organic growth, but we are now also growing in euros. In a very challenging year, we have demonstrated our resilience and ability to mitigate the adverse macroeconomic environment."

Regarding the fourth quarter of 2022, he characterized, "During the quarter we accelerated organic revenue and OIBDA growth supported by strong commercial momentum and cost and CapEx efficiencies." Alvarez-Palette further noted that, during this period, free cash flow increased by more than 77%, and net financial debt was reduced to € 26.7 billion.

Revenues in Latin America. Revenues from Brazil and Latin America (Hispam) accounted for 43.7% of Telefónica's total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2022. Brazil achieved revenues of € 2.361 billion, a jump of 31% compared to the same period in 2021. Meanwhile, Hispam reported revenues of € 2.105 billion, down 8.2% year-on-year.

In 2022 as a whole, revenues from the two regions accounted for 45% of the total. Brazil had revenues of € 8.870 billion, up 28.4%, while Hispam's revenues totaled € 9.141 billion, up 9.3% year-on-year compared to 2021.

In fourth-quarter OIBDA, Brazil contributed € 1.03 billion, an increase of 26.9%, while Hispam contributed € 363 million. For the full year 2022, the figures were € 3.732 billion for Brazil (18.9% more than in the full year 2021) and € 1.958 billion for Hispam, 14% more than in the previous year.

The operator said that in Brazil it strengthened its "leadership in contract and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) customers." In Hispam, meanwhile, "it continues to evolve positively thanks to the new operating model and has grown in high-value accesses, which has led to an improvement in mobile ARPU of 1% and fixed broadband ARPU of 1.1%."

Other markets. In Spain, Telefónica's revenues increased between October and December for the seventh consecutive quarter, to € 3.214 billion. Service revenues grew year-on-year for the first time in three years. Meanwhile, average revenue per customer (ARPU) remained above € 90, and churn fell in the fourth quarter to 1%, the lowest level since 2015, "reflecting high customer loyalty," the operator said.

For Telefónica Germany, the company reported that it registered "solid revenue and OIBDA growth in all quarters of the year" and that it "successfully" completed its three-year Investment for Growth program, enabling it to close the year with 5G coverage exceeding 80% of the population. Virgin Media O2 reported a 9.9% year-on-year improvement in OIBDA and achieved the planned synergies.

Global units. Telefónica Tech consolidated its position in the advanced digital solutions market and increased its capabilities and scale thanks to the strategic and value-added acquisitions executed during the year. Telefónica Tech's revenues increased by 57.1% compared to 2021, to € 1.482 billion.

Telefónica Infra focused its actions on bringing green connectivity to rural areas. It closed 2022 with a coverage of more than 13 million real estate units (UUII) passed by fiber.

Meanwhile, Telxius, the company's submarine cable business, ended the year managing higher traffic levels with strong profitability and growth ratios, driven by a 17.2% organic OIBDA increase to € 218 million, with a margin of 51.8%.

Global operating data. At the end of 2022, Telefónica reported a total of 383.1 million accesses, up 3.8% compared to December 2021. Retail access increased by 3.6% to 357.2 million, while wholesale access reached 25.9 million, a jump of 7.3%.

Within retail accesses, fixed telephony was one of the two areas that fell, in this case by 6.8%.

On the other hand, FTTH accesses jumped by 16.6% between December 2021 and the same month of 2022, reaching 14.2 million. This growth rate was higher than that of ultra-broadband (UBB) as a whole, at 6.6%, reaching 23.7 million.

In mobile accesses, Telefónica recorded 292.1 million through December 2022, an increase of 5.2%. Contract accesses grew by 7.5% to 126.2 million, while prepaid accesses remained practically stable at around 129.2 million. IoT access also showed a strong expansion of 18.1% to 36.2 million.

Pay TV was the other item that recorded a drop in accesses, in this case by 4.7% to 10.5 million.