Telecom Argentina SA (TEO) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. On behalf of Telecom Argentina, I would like to thank everybody for participating of this conference call. The participants of today's conference call are Roberto Nobile, Chief Executive Officer; Federico Pra, Interim Chief Financial Officer; and myself, Luis Rial Ubago, Head of Investor Relations.

The purpose of this call is to share with you the results of the annual period and fourth quarter ended on December 31, 2025. If you have not received our press release or presentation, you can call our Investor Relations office to request the documents or download them from the Investor Relations section of our website located at inversores.telecom.com.ar.

I would like to go over some Safe Harbor information and other details of the call. We would like to clarify that during the conference call and Q&A session, we could mention certain forward-looking statements about Telecoms' future performance, plans, strategies, and objectives. Such statements are subject to uncertainties that could cause Telecom's actual results and operations to differ materially.

Such uncertainties include but are not limited to the effects of ongoing industry and economic regulations, possible changes in the demand for Telecoms products and services, the effects of potential changes in general market and economic conditions, and in legislation. Our press release, dated March 10, 2026, a copy of which was included in a Form 6-K and sent to the SEC, described certain factors that may affect any forward-looking statements that could be mentioned during this call.

The company has reflected the effects of inflation adjustment adopted by Resolution 777/2018 of the Comisión Nacional de Valores, or CNV, which establishes that the re-expression would be applied to the annual financial statements for interim special periods ended as of and including December 31, 2018. Accordingly, The reported figures corresponding to fiscal year 2025 included the effects of the adoption of inflationary accounting in accordance with the IAS 29.

In this presentation, we will also include figures in historical values which are easier to understand. Our press release is complemented by our earnings presentation. Please read the disclaimer contained in slide 1 and slide 2 of the presentation. Today, we will go over our business and financial highlights and end the call with a Q&A session.

Now, let me pass the call to Federico, our Interim CFO, who will start with the presentation.

Thank you, Luis. Good morning and welcome to everyone. Slide 3 summarizes our highlights as of December 31 of 2025. Before diving into the main variables and financial highlights, it is important to clarify that throughout this presentation, we are presenting consolidated financials, including Telefónica Móviles Argentina, or TMA, acquired on February 24, 2025. As such, in this presentation, we will mention consolidated figures that include 10 months from March to December of 2025 of TMA's contribution figures for Telecom only, excluding TMA contribution and standalone figures for TMA for the annual period of 2025.

Having said that, our financial statement achievements for the 2025 annual period were as follows. Telecoms consolidated revenues total over $5.7 billion, up to 53% year over year in constant argent and pesos, mainly driven by the incorporation of TMA results. Importantly, service revenues, excluding TMA, grew in real terms for the first years since the adoption of International Accounting Standard 29, after two years of sequent improvement starting in 2023, making a clear inflection point in our operating performance.

Our consolidating EBITDA margin reached over 30.3% in fiscal year '25, over 200 basis points versus the same period in 2024. This margin would be even higher, reaching over 32%, if we exclude the increase in the run rate in severance charges registered in TMA. Furthermore, on a comparable basis excluding TMA contributions, EBITDA margin reached 33.7%, representing the highest level since 2020, and highlighting the structural improvement in our profitability.

Consolidated CapEx amounted to approximately $1.0 billion for the annual period ended in December 2025, an 88% increase in pesos versus fiscal year '24. Investments continue to prioritize the expansion of both fixed and mobile access networks, particularly the rollout of our fiber-to-home network and 5G infrastructure. Our net debt to estimated pro forma EBITDA leverage ratio stood at around 1.7 times in fiscal year '25, significantly improving compared to fiscal year '24 leverage ratio, even after incorporating the financial acquisition of TMA, demonstrating our solid credit profile.

In November, we announced a dividend payment to our shareholders, continuing our consistent dividend payment track record maintained since 2017. We were honored with LatinFinance Awards two years in a row. In 2024, we received the Award for Corporate Liability Management of the Year and in 2025, we were recognized for the Digital Infrastructure Telecoms Financing for the Year Award, underscoring the effectiveness of our financial strategy.

Lastly, during February 2026, we were awarded by Global Banking Markets, where we received the recognitions for the Telecom Argentina $1.25 billion acquisition of Telefónica Móviles de Argentina deals as the South Cone Deal of the Year. In addition, throughout our liability management transactions, we successfully extended the average life of our debt to more than five years, a very important milestone for the company that further strengthened our financial flexibility and risk profiles.

Slide 4 provides an overview for the main operational and commercial highlights of Telecom and TMA. As we will be detailing in the following slide, Mobile subscriber bases of Telecom and TMA reach 19.9 million and 19.1 million accesses, respectively consolidating our leadership position in the market.

In Broadband, we returned to customer growth for the first year since 2021, supported by the continued expansion of our FTTH network and the solid commercial performance of our fixed services. Pay TV subscriptions in Argentina have also registered an increase, allowing us to achieve a second consecutive year for Pay TV growth, an achievement not seen since 2020, 2021 despite a highly competitive environment.

Our vintage platform, Personal Pay, continues to scale, reaching 4.7 million onboarded clients as of December 2025, maintaining a strong market position. Operationally, during this year, Personal was recognized once again by Ookla for having the fastest 5G network and the best fixed network in Argentina. While we continue advancing in the integration of our commercial brands under a unified Personal strategy, consolidating our offering across connectivity, entertainment, digital finance, smart home, and enterprise solutions.

From slide 5 onwards, we will take a closer look of the performance of our business, highlighting operational trends, commercial evolution, and the impact of the recent acquisitions on key indicators.

Slide 6 highlights the positive evolution in real terms of the service revenues and ARPA trends, both for telecom and the ones provided by our subsidiary, TMA. On a consolidated basis, service revenues have reached over $5.4 billion, increasing 55% year over year in real terms, incorporating 10 months of contribution from TMA. Excluding the contribution from TMA, total service revenues grew by 4% year over year in real terms, reflecting a solid commercial execution.

Furthermore, Mobile, Broadband, and Pay TV service revenues have been growing in real terms at a weight average growth rate of 7%, while only fixed voice and data service revenues has been growing below inflation. Considering TMA on a standalone basis, service revenues grew 4% in real terms during the fiscal year 2025, reaching approximately $2.1 billion in US dollars.

Consolidated revenues totaled over ARS8.3 trillion, increases 53% in real terms versus fiscal year '24, showing a 118% nominal increase. It is also important to clarify that Telecom does not determine TMA pricing strategy. TMA continues to define and implement its own commercial strategy independently in line with the specific market position and operational priorities.

ARPU evolution remains positive across all segments while Mobile, Broadband, and Pay TV show inconsistent growth in real terms, reflecting our ability to sustain value and pricing both for Telecom and TMA.

Slide 7 shows the evolution of our products where we continue to observe growth in most segments of our subscriber base. For Personal, in the Mobile segment during the fiscal year 2025, we continue to observe the effects of an updated disconnection criteria for the new prepaid ads in Personal and Mobile which was implemented in July 2024. This change shortened the period of inactivity required to deactivate a dominant prepaid line, mainly explained the 10.7% reduction year over year in prepaid, reaching almost 12 million accesses in 4Q '25.

Postpaid decreased 3.2% year over year, reaching almost 8 million accesses. It is important to highlight that in prepaid, the decrease is mainly explained due to the disconnections of lines with no traffic, does not generate an impact on Mobile service revenues. The participation of postpaid subscribers over the Mobile subscribers is 40% of our total Mobile base, up to 38% in 4Q '24.

In Broadband, we have observed growth driven mainly by higher FTTH adoption. Our subscriber base has registered an increase in 3.2% year over year, reaching 4.2 million accesses in 4Q '25. FTTH now represents 30% of our personal broadband base, with almost 1.3 million accesses, supported by the acceleration of our fiber rollout.

In Pay TV, our flow platform continues with a good performance, as Personal flows Pay TV accesses has grown year over year. During fiscal year '25, Personal flows unique customer reached almost 2 million, increasing by over 490,000 total clients or 33% when compared with the same period in fiscal year '24. Personal flow subscriber base in Argentina has grown 1.4% year over year, reaching almost 3.3 million accesses reflecting an improvement in real terms of net ads, mostly due to the strong performance of our Flow Flex product.

TMA-provided figures have shown solid results across its core segments, particularly Mobile and Broadband. In Mobile, we have seen strong growth in postpaid customers with an increase of 2.2% year over year, reaching over 9.1 million postpaid accesses. Postpaid customers now represent 49% of TMA's total Mobile base. These figures include machine-to-machine connections for almost 2.9 million accesses, increasing by 6% versus fiscal year '24.

In Broadband, TMA continues to demonstrate a solid expansion. Broadband accesses grew by 5.8% year over year, reaching more than 1.6 million accesses. Approximately 95% of TMA's Broadband customer base is on FTTH technology.

In Pay TV, TMA has seen a modest decline. The subscriber base decreased by 7.9% year over year, with a net loss of approximately 33,000 customers, bringing the total to 391,000. When combining the evolution of both Telecom and TMA subscriber bases, we observe overall growth across fixed segments, which is a very positive achievement.

Broadband shows a combined growth of 3.9% and Pay TV, 0.4%, confirming the recovery trend in fixed services, while Mobile subscribers show a decrease mainly driven by the reasons mentioned above, particularly within the prepaid segment, with no impact on Mobile service revenues.

Moving on to slide 8. We will review the performance for our regional operations. Our operation in Paraguay continues with a strong performance. Revenues has grown almost 7% year over year in US dollars. EBITDA has grown 12% year over year, reaching an equivalent of USD115 million, while also showing a strong EBITDA margin of 53%. Our operation continues almost unlevered, with a net debt-EBITDA ratio of 0.1 times.

Regarding customer basis, we count with 2.6 million Mobile customers, which has grown 3% year over year. Our fixed Broadband and Pay TV offering in that country also continues to show good results, where customer bases amounted to 345,000 and 110,000 subscribers, respectively. Personal Pay onboarded clients in Paraguay amounted almost 1 million.

During the Mobile Congress 2026, Personal Paraguay was recognized by Ookla with the Best Fixed Network and Fastest-Fixed Network Speed Test Award for Q3 and Q4 of 2025. These recognitions underscores the company's ongoing commitment to the network quality and to delivering reliable, high-performance connectivity.

Uruguay, we count with 101,000 Pay TV customers as of December '25. We continue to see potential to grow in the local broadband market where we began adding customers at the end of 2024. We are progressing gradually, as this remains a developing segment for operations in this country.

Personal Pay has reached 4.7 million onboarded clients in Argentina, reflecting 29% annual growth. The platform achieved a remarkable increase in total payment volumes, TPV, with increase 1.9 times and a growth of almost 36% in total payment number, TPN, when compared to December 2024, achieving more than ARS414 billion in remunerated client account balances as of December 2025.

During the quarter, we also advanced in our digital financial services strategy through the creation of a joint venture with Banco Macro. This partnership combines Banco Macro's financial expertise and products' capabilities with personal-based scalable digital platform and growing active customer base. The objective is to accelerate Personal Pay's growth, expand its product offering, and further strengthen our ecosystem by deepening customer engagement across the connectivity and financial services.

In slide 9, we provide an overview of our EBITDA margin evolution. During 2025, and due to the incorporation of TMA into our consolidated financials, our total cost increased in absolute terms. However, they did so at a slower pace than the other revenues, which led to an improvement in our profitability.

Consolidated EBITDA increased by 132% in nominal terms versus fiscal year '24, generating a nominal EBITDA margin of 31.7% during fiscal year 2025. The EBITDA margin in constant currency was 30.3%, representing an increase over 200 basis points versus the margin reported in fiscal year 2024. We will make some special considerations in this regard in the following slide.

Slide 10 shows the evolution of EBITDA year over year and the impact of the different components of revenues and cost. In real terms, EBITDA increased by ARS1 trillion, or 65% year over year, reflecting both the positive contribution from TMA and our ongoing efficiency efforts. The lines that contributed the most in these margin expansions were fees for service, maintenance, and materials, mainly due to the lower cost of maintenance, materials, and supplies; handset cost; and lower labor costs associated with the right-sizing of our operations.

It is important to highlight that if we exclude the effect of an increase in the run rate of severance charges for TMA during fiscal year '25, the consolidated margin would reach 32%, thus re-registering an expansion of 400 basis points versus fiscal year '24.

Slide 11 shows that over the past years, we have been increasing our productivity while almost demonstrating our commitment to efficiency, innovation, and sustainable growth. In this sense, since 2017, we achieved an important increase in the ratio of subscribers per employee considering Telecom on a standalone basis, moving from [1.2 thousand] in 2017 to [1.8 thousand] as of 2025. This reflects our ability to scale efficiently when optimizing resources.

On the right, you can see the evolution of our EBITDA margin. Despite severance charges impacting results in some periods, we have been able to register an important improvement in our margins, reaching almost 34% in fiscal year '25. These improvements are supported by operational initiatives, and digital transformation efforts, including our award-winning SIP cash flow optimization project, which earned us the 2025 ASUG Innovation Award.

In slide 12, we showed the improvement in TMA profitability and the key figures as of fiscal year '25. TMA has been executing an efficiency plan aimed at aligning its EBITDA margin with Telecoms margin. In this regard, TMA has implemented several measures including the elimination of management and brand fees, as well as the optimization of handset and SIM card procurement. Additionally, TMA is advancing initiatives to reduce video platform operation costs.

Looking ahead, the focus remains on further efficiencies in programming expenses and the optimization of its commercial network to enhance channel performance, reduce overhead, and streamline operations. The objectives of this plan is to bring TMA's EBITDA margin closer to the Telecoms margin. This process is already delivering meaningful improvements as TMA's fiscal year EBITDA margin, excluding the impact of higher severance charges, stands at approximately 26% versus 11% in fiscal year '24.

As in fiscal year '25, TMA contributed to consolidated revenues and EBITDA with nearly $1.9 billion and over $0.4 billion respectively. Looking at the figures on the annual basis as of fiscal year '25, TMA generated almost $2.3 billion in revenues and EBITDA of $0.5 billion versus $265 million reported in fiscal year '24 under the previous year holder Telefónica from Spain.

This underscores the strong execution of the efficiency applied by TMA, which has been able to almost double the EBITDA generated annually from the reporting figures of the fiscal year '24. It is important to highlight that this is a market repair transaction. TMA has limited profitability and constrained investment capacity. With Telecom's acquisition of TMA, we are addressing this issue and reinforcing the health of this industry.

Now, let me pass the call to Luis, who will continue with the presentation. Thank you.

Thank you, Federico. Slide 13 shows the company's consolidated net results and EBIT. Our consolidated EBIT increased in fiscal year '25 as we registered an expansion of the EBITDA in real terms. We recorded an operating income for the fiscal year '25 of ARS450 million. The operating margin during fiscal year '25 was 5.4% of consolidated revenues in real terms. And in historical figures, the same margin was almost 23%.

During fiscal year '25, the company recorded a consolidated net loss of approximately ARS145 million compared to a net income of almost ARS1.4 trillion in fiscal year '24. The result obtained in fiscal year '24 was financial in nature.

The strong real appreciation of the peso during that period generated significant gains, mainly related to our foreign currency denominated financial debt. This appreciation led to positive exchange differences in real terms, which accounted for most of the net income reported in fiscal year '24. In fiscal year '25, the evolution was different, with inflation being lower than the base of the evaluation and generating FX exchange losses that impacted on our financial results.

Slide 14 displays a summary of the company's consolidated CapEx in PP&E and intangible assets during fiscal year 2025, which amounted to almost ARS1.5 trillion, or an equivalent of over $1 billion at the official effects rate. This represents a consolidated intensity of revenues of 17.8%. This amount is 98% higher when compared to the previous year in constant pesos, with a strong focus on FTTH expansion and 5G deployment.

Technical CapEx was mainly composed by investments in our access network and technology, representing 60% of the CapEx during fiscal year '25. Over the course of fiscal year '25, 105 new sites were deployed, with nearly 688 existing sites were upgraded. We also added over 800 new 5G sites operating in the 3.5 gigahertz band during the year, and a 5G network footprint reached more than 1,000 sites as of December 31, 2025.

In our fixed access network, we increased the deployment of new FTTH over 16,000 new blocks and we performed overlay of almost 11.4 thousand blocks of HFC network. 2025 marked the largest FTTH rollout since the Telecom Cablevisión merger with over 1 million homes passed during the year in new expansion. Approximately 31% of our CapEx of fiscal year '25 was allocated to installations and customer premise equipment, or CPE, which are installations and equipment in the homes of our clients and 9% to our international operations.

Slide 15 describes our consolidated cash flow during fiscal year '25 compared with the same period of 2024. Our cash flow generation, net of payments for the acquisition of TMA, included in investment activities remained robust. Free cash flow before dividends and interest payments during fiscal year '25 was over $0.6 billion Compared to the free cash flow obtained in fiscal year '24, we generated an expansion of over $0.2 billion, which could have reached an expansion of approximately $0.3 billion, excluding TMA's extraordinary tax payments.

Slide 16 shows our key figures for fiscal year '25. The conversion to US dollars is obtained dividing the figures in constant pesos as at the end of each period, and using the end of period spot effects for each year. Pro forma revenues were equivalent to $6.1 billion as of December 2025. Pro forma EBITDA was equivalent to $1.8 billion as of December 2025.

Our gross debt amounted to $3.7 billion as of December 2025 due to the incorporation of financing of the acquisition of TMA. As of December 2025, the company holds cash and equivalents for over $0.5 billion, and thus our net debt was $3.2 billion. Consequently, our net debt to estimate the pro forma EBITDA labor rate ratio stood around 1.7 times in fiscal year '25, improving when compared with the ratio obtained in fiscal year '24 and reflecting a solid balance sheet.

In slide 17, we will address the company's resilience to FX fluctuations. As mentioned in other earnings calls, during December 2023, the Argentine peso experienced a significant devaluation that impacted fiscal year '23 figures. Subsequently, our equivalent EBITDA figure in US dollars recovered back to the levels of the third quarter of 2023 in only six months, as reflected in the last 12 months, second-quarter '24 EBITDA, showing a rapid rebound thanks to effective pricing of our products in a highly competitive environment and demonstrating the solid resiliency of our business.

As shown in fiscal year 2025 figures, the acquisition of TMA did not impact our relative leverage ratio, as the EBITDA contribution for the new business helped to maintain our financial balance, adding a substantial contribution to Telecom's EBITDA. The FX depreciation during the third quarter of 2025 had a low impact in our EBITDA figures and almost no effect over our leverage ratio.

During the fourth quarter of '25, despite a 5.4% FX variation during the quarter, inflation reached 7.9%, allowing us to continue absorbing the impact of currency movements. As a result, leverage further improved to around 1.7 times, confirming the resiliency of our balance sheet and the limited sensitivity of our financial metrics to short-term FX volatility.

On slide 18, we highlight the substantial improvements in our debt maturity profile achieved through recent liability management transactions. Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment during past years in Argentina globally, we have successfully maintained a competitive financial cost while extending the pro forma average life of our debt for five years.

Our strategy allowed us to keep the average cost of dollar debt relatively stable, even as global rates and risk premiums fluctuated significantly. Additionally, during 2025, we secured a financing totaling $2.7 billion.

During January of 2026, we issued a 10-year final maturity note for $600 million in the international markets. The transaction represents an unprecedented milestone for Telecom and Argentine corporates, reflecting strong investor support, as evidenced by an order book exceeding 3.3 times the issued amount. Moreover, the company was recognized with the South Cone Deal of the Year at GBM Awards for the $1.25 billion acquisition of Telefónica Móviles Argentina, underscoring its strategic relevance and financial execution.

Slide 19 shows the breakdown of our debt maturity profile. As of December 2025, on a pro forma basis, our total outstanding debt principal amounts to approximately $3.7 billion.

The pro forma figure reflects the $600 million issuance of the Class 2027 international notes due 2036 and the application of proceeds to, one, the prepayment of $163 million of the 2026 notes; two, the cancellation of $181 million of loans incurred for the acquisition of TMA; three, the cancellation of $109 million equivalent of local loans; and four, the payment and maturity of $121 million equivalent of local dollar-linked notes and the use of $14 million of available cash to reduce bank overdraft.

As a result of these liability management actions, we extended the average life of our debt to about five years, reinforcing a more balanced maturity profile and, ultimately, reducing refinancing risk. Our maturity profile for the coming years is highly concentrated and manageable, and we will continue with our liability management strategy, aiming to reduce costs and expand tenors. Additionally, we also maintain a very good relationship with multilateral and expropriate agencies and have availability of financing from local banks.

Let me conclude, in slide 20, with some key takeaways from this period. In the fixed business, we achieved solid performance supported by subscriber growth, particularly in Broadband. This marks a continued recovery in the segment with improving demand dynamics. At the same time, we continue executing our 5G and FTTH deployment strategy achieving record levels of expansion during the year.

These investments are key to strengthening network quality, supporting data consumption growth, and reinforcing our long-term competitive positioning. Previously mentioned, during the quarter we also advanced in our digital financial services strategy to the creation of a joint venture with Banco Macro aimed at accelerating personnel space growth and expanding its product offering.

We delivered a strong improvement in the EBITDA margin. Telecoms margin expanded to 33.7% in fiscal year '25, while TMA also showed a significant recovery, excluding the increase in severance charges run rate, reaching approximately 26%, confirming our margin expansion across both businesses. This reflects the resiliency of our business model and the effectiveness of our cost efficiency initiatives.

We successfully expanded our fixed combined customer base in Pay TV and in Broadband, even in a very competitive market. We were able to generate a significant improvement in top-line performance in real terms, supporting revenue growth across all major segments.

Telecom, excluding TMA service revenues, grew 4% in real terms in fiscal year '25, marking the first annual growth since the adoption of IIS 29. We delivered strong real ARPU growth across our main segments, reflecting disciplined pricing and improved commercial execution. We maintain sound financial management with solid free cash flow generation and strong cash position, primarily in US dollar-denominated instruments, providing us with flexibility and stability.

Free cash flow reached over $0.6 billion in fiscal year '25, and our cash position reached over $0.5 billion at the year end. We continue to strengthen our debt maturity profile, extending the average life of our debt while preserving a competitive financing cost.

The average life of a debt exceeds five years on a pro forma basis, the longest in recent years. This action positions us very well to sustain long-term growth.

With this, now we are more than pleased to answer any questions you may have. Q&A session will be open immediately. Thank you very much.