Mexico’s Totalplay curbs capex amid ‘strict financial discipline’

Mexican telecom operator TotalPlay invested 2.9bn pesos (US$150mn) in Q3, equivalent to 26.5% of revenue but down from 36.9% a year ago and from 67% in the same quarter 2022, according to its latest financial report.

In 3Q23, Totalplay’s capex was 3.7bn pesos.

The capex-per-revenue decline is attributed by the group to the end of an intense investment cycle carried out in recent years to structure and expand its network.

Since the beginning of 2023, at least, the company's focus has been less on accelerating homes passed and more on monetizing the already deployed network.

“The company's geographic coverage investment program was completed during the first quarter of 2023. Accordingly, the number of homes passed in Mexico at the end of this period [Q3] was 17,588,706, a figure with minor variations compared to 17,531,567 a year ago,” TotalPlay said.

The group also cites its strategy to moderate subscriber base growth and strict financial discipline. 

REVENUES 

Overall, TotalPlay reported 11.1bn pesos in services revenue in the quarter, up 10% year-on-year. Year-to-September, revenues were 33.4bn pesos, up 12%.

Services revenue was driven by an 8% increase in sales to the residential segment and 22% to enterprises. 

However, the company posted a net loss of 1.09bn pesos in the quarter but an improvement on a loss of 2.13bn pesos a year earlier.

At end-September, TotalPlay had 5.12mn clients, mostly fixed broadband ones, including 69,572 small and medium-sized businesses.