Telefónica has reported a net income of €1,582 million in 2020, 38.5% up vs. the previous year, despite the difficult conditions caused by the pandemic.
However, the Operator's total revenue by 11%, to 43,076 million, with financial debt that was reduced by 6.7%, to 35,225 million.
In 2020, Telefónica said it continued to attract and retain high-value customers. During the past year, the group increased its access base by 0.3%, to a total of 345.43 million. The company's high-speed network (fibre and cable) totalled 134.8 million premises passed, 9% more vs. 2019, of which 61.8 million premises corresponded to the Group's own network, 11% more vs. a year earlier.
Telefónica Infra launched in the 2019 plan, has reported a positive performance in 2020. In the last quarter of the year, revenues grew by 4.7% to €217 million. For the full year, Telxius’ revenues grew organically 1% to €826 million.
At the same time, Telefónica Infra has fulfilled its mission to crystallise the value of the company's telecoms infrastructure and the search for new opportunities with several large deals in recent months. In October it launched a joint venture with Allianz to roll out fibre in rural areas of Germany and in January it sold Telxius towers to American Tower Corporation in a deal at record multiples.
Telefónica's Chairman and CEO, José María Álvarez-Pallete
2020 has been a strange year, a year in which we have been challenged. A lot was expected of Telefónica and Telefónica has lived up to these expectations. We have been side by side with the rest of society, where we had to be. We have delivered and we have continued to make progress.
