As for the new „free“ tariffs introduced in April, Telefonica CR said during 2Q13 results conference call that so far 440,000 clients (1/3 of TEFO2’s client base) have migrated to new “Free” tariffs where only negligible part comes from competitors. At the very early phase of migration mostly higher value customers were optimizing their spending by quickly switching to lower tariffs, but now twice as many customers are upselling than optimizing. The company sees only very limited impact of new tariffs on mobile revenues as there was 5.3% y/y decline in mobile gross service revenues (excl. MTR impact) in 2Q13 compared to 5.2% y/y decline in 1Q13 (0.1 ppt difference). The management sees new tariffs as accretive on profitability basis due to significant savings on the cost side. / 2Q13 figs show that revenues from mobile voice and messaging declined most in at least last 2 years in y-o-y terms partly offset by higher mobile data revenues. Although there is only 0.1 ppt difference in decline in mobile revenues (excl. MTR effect) compared to 2Q13, this may be misleading as 2Q has historically been stronger quarter than 1Q. We believe that recessionary environment will likely limit up-selling opportunities in coming months. Furthermore we think there still is significant downside in mobile voice and messaging in case of increasing competition in the future, possibly from a new entrant.
CEZ agreed last week with TELO2 CR to become a mobile virtual network operator as of this fall. CEZ will need to spend only a few tens of millions of crowns to set it up, because it already has the client-services capabilities. It will target mainly residential customers and small businesses. Sales Director Alan Svoboda said that CEZ might also offer financial services, insurance and other residential services in the future. / just FYI; We do not expect any significant additional profits for CEZ from running mobile virtual network in forseeable future.