Spotlight: Telefónica’s expanding Peruvian fiber footprint

Amid market assessments for a financial partner to its local fiber operation, Telefónica continues to advance fiber deployment Peru.

Between April and June, Telefónica del Peru passed an additional 270,000 premises with fiber, which gives a pace of roughly 90,000 homes per month, according to the most recent financial and operational figures. 

Such net additions represent growth of 22% year-over-year and bring Telefónica’s total base in Peru to 1.5mn homes passed – not necessarily fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) clients.

According to the telco, overall fixed business revenues, which include voice, TV, internet and B2B, grew by 1.9% in Q2, to 875mn soles (US$223mn), driven mostly by the wholesale and data/IT segments. 

Mobile revenues were up 5%, to 913mn soles. 

Overall, Telefónica del Perú’s revenues expanded 3.4% in the quarter, to 1.78bn soles, and 5.5% in the first half, to 3.55bn soles.

The company touted five consecutive quarters of revenue growth. Local CEO Pedro Cortez said in a statement that “growth is being profitable and in line with our transformation strategy.”

According to latest Q1 data from regulator Osiptel, Telefónica led the fixed internet market with a 57.9% share, or 1.78mn accesses. Telefónica reported it ended June with 954,000 accesses.

Telefónica's share in this segment has been declining consistently for over a decade from 91% in 2010. 

Between March 2021 and March 2022, the company lost nearly 10 percentage points in market participation, mostly to Wynet and small regional providers.

Overall, Peru had 3.08mn fixed broadband accesses by end-March, 23.8% of which accounted for fiber.

MOBILE

Meanwhile, the carrier's mobile client base fell 0.7%, to 11.6mn at end-June, with postpaid up 1.2% at 5mn and prepaid down 2.1% at 6.7mn.

Telefónica also announced a partnership with Nokia to provide mobile connectivity to Peru’s mining industry. The contract encompasses 4G and 5G technology and cites a project with Altamina.

Three years ago the duo already announced a similar joint project, for LTE coverage at Minera Las Bambas.

Nokia claims to be the leader in private wireless in the network suppliers market.