Tele2 sees TV revenue and subs dip as Sweden and Baltics boost overall numbers

Nordic telco Tele2’s revenue from digital TV declined by a further 3% in the final quarter of the year to SEK659 million (US$63 million), with revenue down both from its legacy digital-terrestrial business and from cable and fibre.

DTT revenues declined by 5% to SEK234 million, while cable and fibre TV revenues were down 2% to SEK425 million.

Swedish digital TV subscribers declined by 9,000 over the quarter to take Tele2’s total to 857,000, with all of the decline coming from the DTT base, which numbered 226,000 at year-end. The group’s cable and fibre TV base numbered 632,000, flat quarter-on-quarter.

Average revenue per TV sub was flat at SEK255, with average DTT revenue up 7% to SEK339 and average cable an fibre TV revenue down 2% to SEK224.

Overall, Tele2 saw service revenues rise by 3% organically to SEK5.4 billion, while underlying EBITDAaL was up 4% organically to SEK2.6 billion.

Numbers overall were boosted by a generally strong performance in Sweden and the Baltic markets.

CEO Kjell Johnsen said that the company had “returned to top-line growth within all major business areas” in 2023.

“Building on our portfolio of assets, which include mobile, broadband, streaming and TV, we can deliver whatever mix of services and hardware our customers would like, and the task going forward is to make their interactions with us more convenient, reducing friction and complexity,” he said.

Johnsen said that the company had identified opportunities to save around SEK 600 million on an exit run-rate basis over the 2024-26 period.