SoftBank telecom revenue grows 4.6%, Opex increases 6%

SoftBank said its sales from telecom business in Japan increased 4.6 percent to ¥880,460 million during the first quarter of 2018-19.
SoftBank Q1 2018-19SoftBank generated ¥634,930 million (+3.7 percent) from consumer and ¥64,199 (–2.1 percent) from enterprise business during the first quarter.

The increase in consumer revenue was due to an increase in revenues of product because of the increase in the average price of smartphones, as well as to an increase in telecom service revenue resulting from an increase in broadband revenue.

Operating expenses of SoftBank increased 6 percent, mainly reflecting an increase in the cost of products due to a higher purchase price of smartphones, the increase in total net sales exceeded the rise in operating expenses.

EBITDA increased 0.1 percent to ¥334,018 million.

SoftBank said subscribers increased due to smartphone additions of 576,000. Addition of smartphones was due to the growth in the number of Y!mobile and SoftBank subscribers, as well as to the addition of LINE MOBILE smartphone subscribers.

Subscribers included 325,000 subscribers (+60,000) to Wireless Home Phone, a new home-phone voice calling service using the mobile network.

SoftBank said ARPU declined, mainly due to the impact of Y!mobile and LINE MOBILE smartphones, which have a lower service charge.

Total revenue

SoftBank Group sales increased 4 percent to ¥2,272,783 million. Sales rose in the segments: SoftBank, Yahoo Japan, and Brightstar.