Proximus reveals bold2025 strategy indicating cut in Capex

Proximus Group announced its bold2025 strategy indicating significant cut in Capex in fiber deployment and IT-related spending.
Proximus fiber business
The bold2025 growth strategy announced by Proximus has 6 connected pillars.

Roll out #1 Gigabit network for Belgium
Proximus aims at offering Fiber to 50 percent of Belgium households by 2025 and 95 percent by 2032, as well as 100 percent 5G deployment by 2025.

Engineer technology assets to enable digital ecosystems
Proximus aims to modernize and innovate IT platforms to enable ecosystems of the future, while structurally lowering cost of IT operations.

Foster an engaging culture & empowering ways of working
Proximus aims to strengthen #thinkpossible culture enabled by an agile operating model to reinforce customer-centricity and to reduce time-to-market.

Act for an inclusive society & be sustainable 
Proximus aims to reach net zero CO₂ emissions across the value chain by 2040 and commit to being truly circular by 2030.

Delight customers with an unrivalled experience
Proximus aims to be #1 in customer experience across all segments by 2025 supported by product superiority, a digital-first mindset and by leveraging innovative B2C digital platforms, such as Pickx & Proximus+, a new, soon to be launched app regrouping services in telco, fintech, mobility, ehealth and energy.

Grow profitably locally & globally through strong brands
Proximus aims to grow in the domestic market thanks to fiber commercialization, B2C multi-brand strategy/convergent offers and sustained ICT growth in the Business market. It aims to grow internationally in rapid-scaling domains, Digital Communications & Digital Identity, thanks to BICS & Telesign.

Proximus claims that domestic activities have delivered sustained commercial momentum, driven by the accelerated fiber roll-out and achieved considerable enhancements in product superiority and customer experience as part of its #inspire2022 strategy. Internationally, BICS and Telesign have captured significant market growth, resulting in accelerating revenue and Direct Margin growth.

Domestically Proximus will deploy its multi-brand strategy, focusing on convergent leadership and value management to capture revenue growth across all 3 business units, Residential, Business and Wholesale landscape.

For 2023 specifically, Domestic revenue is expected to grow by 1 percent to 3 percent. Proximus will activate its second wave of cost savings, with EUR 220 million over the next 3 years, mitigating the effects of the inflationary pressure on Opex.

Proximus expects its International segments BICS and Telesign to deliver a combined revenue exceeding EUR 1.8 billion by 2025 and Direct Margin growing at high single digit CAGR over the 2022 to 2025 period, including a high-single digit Direct Margin growth for 2023.

Capex plans

Proximus expects its Capex to return to normalized levels after reaching a peak of around EUR 1.3 billion in 2023. The reduction in Capex beyond 2023 is driven by a Capex cut in fiber deployment, the finalization of the mobile network consolidation and 5G roll-out by 2025, and a reduction in IT-related Capex.