Bezeq Telecom Q2 profit rises as fibre-optic network expands

Bezeq Israel Telecom reported a slight rise in quarterly net profit that beat estimates, boosted by higher revenue from gaining more subscribers for its fibre-optics Internet network.

Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecoms group, said on Wednesday it earned 310 million shekels ($93 million) in the second quarter excluding one-time items, compared with 304 million shekels a year earlier. Revenue gained 1.1% to 2.23 billion shekels.

It was expected to have earned 293 million shekels on revenue of 2.24 billion, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.

Bezeq said it intended to pay a dividend of 294 million shekels, or 0.11 shekel per share, in October.

Last week, Bezeq raised its estimate for adjusted 2022 net profit to 1.1-1.2 billion shekels from a prior forecast of 1.0-1.1 billion, and projected reaching 1.5 million homes with its fibre network in 2022, up from 1.4 million previously.

It currently has deployed to more than 1.36 million households and as of the end of June had 180,000 customers to its fibre service with what it said was a record number of new subscribers in July.

“As fibre deployment continues, we are now focusing our efforts on connecting more and more customers,” said chief executive Ran Guron.

Bezeq’s bottom line was also helped by 130% rise in net income at mobile phone unit Pelephone to 46 million shekels as its subscriber base grew to 2.636 million from 2.521 million a year ago. Reuters