1&1 AG
XETRA:1U1
Earnings Call Analysis
Q3-2023 Analysis
1&1 AG
The company demonstrated a strong financial performance with pretax earnings rising to EUR 370 million, an increase fueled by higher interest income from investments. Post tax expenses, the consolidated result reached EUR 253 million for the first three months of the year, a EUR 10.9 million climb compared to the previous year.
Cash flow from operating activities soared by 18.7% year-on-year to EUR 213 million thanks to operational improvements, such as reduced inventories and increased trade payables stemming from delayed invoicing. Cash flow from investments was at minus EUR 180.4 million, which includes capital expenditures, primarily in mobile communications amounting to EUR 123.3 million, marking a growth-focused direction. Furthermore, the company distributed dividends of EUR 8.8 million in May, affirming its commitment to providing shareholder returns.
The company has rented 503 antenna masts to date, a clear signal of their commitment to expand their network. Going forward, the operation of these masts will be bolstered by the integration with Vodafone, with national roaming expected by summer next year.
There has been a notable increase in liabilities towards related companies, primarily 1&1 Versatel, indicating strategic financial maneuvers within the enterprise's group of businesses.
Despite a previously forecasted slowdown, the company now expects customer growth to continue at a similar pace as this year, rejecting an immediate growth deceleration.
There are ongoing considerations for further consolidation in the German mobile market, and the company appears open to deepening network cooperation with Vodafone, especially in rural areas, to bolster their market position.
Progress has been made in the broadband connections, particularly with fiber-to-the-home offerings, and the company is confident about achieving a stable broadband customer base next year.
Analyst consensus projects a modest 1.5% EBITDA growth for 2024, underscoring cautious optimism around the company’s operational growth and profitability.
With a peak CapEx of EUR 320 million expected next year, the company demonstrates its ongoing commitment to network infrastructure. Executives convey an optimistic view of the coming year, predicting cost savings due to self-production in the mobile network.
The company has seen its strongest performance since 2019 with 190,000 net adds and anticipates at least 170,000 new mobile clients in Q4 alone. With the aim to lease around 2,000 new masts next year, the company is aggressively pursuing network expansion.
Negotiations with Vodafone are well underway, with the main national roaming contract expected to be signed either this quarter or the next. The precontract already in place is binding and detailed specifications are being worked out without any anticipated reasons for the deal to falter.
Prices for existing customers have been adjusted to the normal list prices, which has been well-received by customers who appreciate and understand the rationale for these increases.
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Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your patience, and welcome to today's conference of 1&1 AG key financials on Q3 2023. I'd like to point out that this conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]
Now, I will hand over to Mr. Oliver Keil. The stage is yours.
Thank you, operator. Warm welcome also from my side to today's conference call and webcast, talking about our financial data as of Q3 2023. As always, the process will be the same. Mr. Dommermuth will present the first part to you, and I'm here on behalf of Mr. Huhn to present the key financials to you. Afterwards, we will hand over to the operator and give you the opportunity to ask questions. Thank you. Now I hand over to Mr. Dommermuth.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The plan is that I will talk about the business development of the first 9 months, I will talk about the status of the Mobile Network expansion, and then a forecast for 2023. Afterwards, Mr. Keil will present the financials to you. Let's begin with the company development in the first 9 months.
You already know our product portfolio. We're offering broadband connections, largely VDSL and FTTH. We get them as a complete package from 1&1 Versatel, our subsidiary, and the last mile is usually provided by Deutsche Telekom and via City Carriers. We have a bit more than 4 million customers, and we have a very good quality in what we're offering to our clients. This has also been proven by the connect test for many years now.
In the Mobile segment, we're the leading MVNO in Germany with 12.1 (sic) [ 12.1 million ] service contracts. We are covering the market in a broad way through different brands through 1&1, through Co brands, GMX and WEB.DE, and through our discount brands that belong to 1&1 that we acquired from Drillisch. We're now developing a powerful 5G network. And until the launch of this network, we're an MVNO, and we get wholesale purchases from Telefonica and Vodafone.
The first 9 months, we were able to increase our customer contracts by 12.1 million to 16.1 million. That's a growth of 330,000. In the first quarter, we had 100,000 growth. And in Q3, we had 150,000. So that amounts to 330,000 in total. Growth comes from mobile connections. We were able to gain 420,000 new customers, and in broadband connections in the first 9 months, we lost 90,000 customers.
We're losing customers in the ADSL business largely, so in our old business with the old technology. And since the beginning of the year, we've been migrating customers from ADSL to VDSL. That will mean that the number of customers is expected to stabilize in Q4. We will not see any customer losses anymore in Q4.
Revenue has increased by 2.8%. Service revenue has increased by 1.3% to 2.418 -- EUR 2,418 million. Other revenue has increased by 8. 7% in the first quarter. We had a small increase, by 0.2%, and 0.2% in the first half of the year plus 3.7% in Q3 amounts to 1.3% for the first months. In Q4, we will also see a nice growth.
EBITDA by segment has developed differently. In our operating business, so in our Access segment, we were able to increase EBITDA by 1.6% to EUR 584.9 million. In the segment where we're constructing the new network, so the 1&1 Mobile Network segment, EBITDA has decreased as planned, minus EUR 73.8 million after EUR 26.8 million in the previous year due to the expansion of our own network.
CapEx, EUR 133.8 million CapEx in the first 9 months, that we processed, EUR 10.5 million from the Access segment, so from our wholesale business where we need only little CapEx, EUR 123.3 million in the 1&1 Mobile Network segment for the network expansions, especially for antenna sites, computers and software.
Let's talk about the status of the 1&1 Mobile Network. We're building the first virtualized OpenRAN in Europe. Since December of 2022, we've been offering fixed wireless access to core data centers being operated, 23 decentralized Edge data centers, and 81 regional Far EDGE data centers were operational as of the end of September.
We interconnected our network with all national and international networks. So we have been conducting a test operation for national roaming with Telefonica for a couple of months now. We are also conducting a friendly user test for our mobile services that we want to offer shortly. We also have a pre-contract with Vodafone on national roaming as of 1st of July 2024.
And our locations, they've increased significantly in Q3. You can see that on the graph. End of Q1, we had 95 sites; end of Q2, we had 193 sites; end of Q3, we had 503; and by the end of the year, we will have more than 1,000 sites. Those are ready for active installation sites, meaning that the mast, that's the actual bottleneck, when constructing the mast site, these mast sites need to be provided with fiber optics now and antennas need to be installed.
Our most important expansion partner delivered significantly less than contractually agreed. But despite these delivery failures, we managed to reach our goals largely due to compensation, and hence, the 1,000 sites by the end of the year. Run rate of 500 in Q4. So that's the difference between 1,000 and 503. That's what we want to continue next year. So per quarter, 500 new antenna sites, so that we will have roughly 3,000 new sites by the end of next year. That is our current plan.
Next steps are now to conclude or to turn the precontract with Vodafone into a main contract, and then to start our smartphone tariffs in December so that our network will be fully operational. At the beginning of next year, we want to start migrating our existing customers step by step, but the process will take some time. We have more than 12 million customers, so we're expecting this to take 1.5 to 2 years until all clients have been migrated.
At the end, let's look at the forecast. We're confirming our forecast. Service revenue is expected to increase by 2% to EUR 3.23 billion. I think we're on a good path. EBITDA is expected to increase to EUR 655 million. This is driven by the Access segment where we expect a growth of 4% to EUR 775 million. In the 1&1 Mobile Network segment, we will have ramp-up costs of around EUR 120 million as expected.
We want to have 500,000 new subscribers. We stick to that goal. And we want to invest EUR 320 million, specifically for our network construction.
That's it on the overview on the first 9 months, and then the status of the network expansion, and on the outlook for 2023. Now I'd like to hand over to Mr. Keil who will present the financials.
[Interpreted] Thank you, Mr. Dommermuth. Now let's look at the financials at the end of September 2023. Mr. Dommermuth has already presented the revenue to you. Cost of sales, here, they increased from EUR 2.01 billion in the first 9 months to EUR 2.135 million. And EUR 939.7 million in gross profits fell to EUR 896 million, but that includes an increase to EUR 89.8 million for establishing our Mobile Network. In the last -- in the previous year period, it stood at a different figure.
So we have had depreciation and amortization, and that is due to the already built networks. So the costs for the contracts in the period from EUR 374.2 million, they increased to -- because of higher expenditures on marketing and sales.
Administration costs stood at EUR 92.8 million, and they were higher than in the previous year period, EUR 80.7 million. Administrative costs in the Access segment stood at EUR 75.3 million. These are constant, and the increase due to the expansion of the organization in the 1&1 segment, increased to EUR 17.5 million over EUR 6.4 million. So that explains the overall increase.
Other revenues rose from EUR 23.1 million to EUR 27.7 million, and that is due to higher revenues from [ Daning ] fees. But we can also see better payment behavior.
Also depreciations on outstanding contractual assets stand at EUR 77.4 million. Operating result stood at EUR 263.7 million, and that was below the 2022 figures because we had to invest more in expanding our Mobile Network. The financial result stood at EUR 6.3 million, and that was EUR 10.9 million above the previous year value. That is due to higher interest income because we have investments with our parent United Internet AG.
And that ends up in EUR 370 million pretax earnings. Minus EUR 170 million in tax expenses and a consolidated result of EUR 253 million for the first 3 months of this year.
Next slide, the balance sheet. EUR 7.25 billion at the end of 2022 and now EUR 7.67 billion at the end of the third quarter. There are 3 reasons for the increase of our short-term assets, EUR 1.85 billion to EUR 2.04 billion. So first of all, EUR 75.5 million, that is due to free liquidity, which has been invested with our parent company, EUR 60.8 million in terms of payments received because of higher revenues, and EUR 27.1 million in contingent payments to Deutsche Telekom.
For long-term assets, an increase of EUR 225 million from EUR 5.4 billion to EUR 5.6 billion. And that is due to investments in tangible and intangible assets for the Mobile Network, and also due to contingent payments to Deutsche Telekom. Short-term liabilities increased from EUR 549.7 million to EUR 695.5 million. And that is due to delayed supplier invoices, looking at the reporting date. Long-term liabilities are more or less on the same level as at the end of last year. Equity increased because of the net income of EUR 253 million.
Now let's look at the cash flow. Here on this slide, you can find the inflow from operating activities at EUR 213 million at the end of September 2023, which increased by 18.7% year-on-year. Main reasons are the reduction of inventories and an increase of trade payables due to the delayed invoicing of supplies. Cash flow from investment activities stood at minus EUR 180.4 million, and thereof EUR 133.8 million CapEx and EUR 57.5 million investment of free cash with United Internet. Cash flow from financing activities stood at minus EUR 32.6 million, and that includes EUR 19.6 million in payments in connection with leases and also the EUR 8.8 million distributed in dividends in May.
Our free cash flow as at the end of September 2023 amounted to EUR 79.2 million, over EUR 96.1 million. Free cash flow includes, as we all know, investment in our mobile communications network, amounting to EUR 123.3 million. And last year, it was EUR 75.4 million. The overall decrease compared to the prior year period resulted from budgeted higher investments in the Mobile Network.
So on the next slide, the bridge EBITDA to free cash flow shows the significant items affecting cash. We've already mentioned the most important items. The revenue-driven increase of trade receivables and other receivables standing at EUR 80.9 million. Prepaid expenses standing at EUR 252.4 million due to the contingent payments to Deutsche Telekom, and CapEx of EUR 133.8 million, reflecting the significant investments in our Mobile Network.
And this brings us to the end of our presentation. Thank you very much for your attention. And now I'd like to hand back to the operator for your questions. Thank you.
[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions]
First question by [indiscernible] from Bank of America.
[Interpreted] I have 2 questions, please, both more on regulation. Firstly, on the Federal Cartel Office publication on the frequency spectrum distribution, could you comment the statement? It sounds as if the Federal Cartel Office is suggesting a frequency exchange and new approaches on low-band frequencies. Would be -- that be a favorable solution for you?
And secondly, can you give an update on a possible MVNO status renewal also in regard to this launch of your own network, Mobile Network, how has -- what has the federal network agency has done on that so far? I'm just asking because the date is fast approaching.
[Interpreted] Yes. Thank you. Let's start with the parallel operation. As MVNO and MNO, we have submitted an application for renewal with the Federal Network Agency. The feedback that we've received is that in November, a decision will be reached, but I cannot give you any more concrete information on that. There was a possibility to submit an application, and our competitors have also been heard on the matter as far as I know, but there is no decision as of yet.
On the statement by the Federal Cartel Office, I think that there's a lot of truth to it. The Federal Cartel Office pointed out rightfully that a frequency renewal for Telefonica, Vodafone and Telekom alone is betting, I think they called it subsidies. And I think they also pointed out why it is important that new operators receive frequencies as well. The Federal Agency Network will decide in the end what the right path will be.
We already said last year that we're open towards the frequency exchange. And we also said that we don't generally are against a renewal. The fourth operator will have to be considered in that, however. And that's the way it was done in France where there was a new deal for Mobile, and frequencies that play with 3 operators were renewed, and then they were -- but then they were distributed to 4 operators.
So it is possible. And we're open on whether we'll be talking about a frequency exchange or renewal or any other principle. What's important to us is that we do receive frequencies in the end.
[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] Your next question, please, Simon Stippig by Warburg Research.
[Interpreted] Thank you very much for having the opportunity to ask questions. My first question concerns the network expansion, specifically with the antennas. How many partner antennas were available for 1&1 by September 30? And the second question, on the network expansion. What's the progress on integration with Vodafone? Are there any obstacles, any issues? So it would be great to have an update on that.
And then maybe on the balance sheet, the liabilities towards related companies, they've increased. Maybe you could comment on that.
[Interpreted] The number of antenna sites, as of 30th September, we had 503 antenna masts. We've rented 503 antenna masts. We're currently in the process of providing fiber optics to them and of installing antennas. And not all of them were in operation at that point.
On the integration with Vodafone, the teams are currently working on that. We're in the middle of this process. National roaming is expected to be available as of summer of next year, and we're optimistic that we will achieve that.
On the liabilities towards related companies, questions, those increased due to increased liabilities towards 1&1 Versatel. 1&1 Versatel provides the data centers and the glass fiber connections for 1&1.
[Interpreted] I have a quick follow-up question. You mentioned in Q2 that you want to receive 300 additional antennas from partners. I didn't see that in this presentation anymore. Could you comment on that?
[Interpreted] Yes, I just double-checked, this is about new lease agreements that we're acquiring in order to build our own sites. By the end of Q3, we had roughly 300, yes, my colleagues are nodding. And by the end of the year, we're expecting this to increase to 600. And this is additional to the sites that we've already acquired. We're largely using colocation. But for a couple of months, we've also been acquiring our own sites and we've also been constructing our own sites where colocation is not possible.
[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Ulrich Rathe from Societe Generale.
[Interpreted] I have 2 questions. In Q2, customer growth was a bit slower in the Mobile segment, and there were some questions on that. Mr. Dommermuth, I think you said that the business plan expects slower customer growth in the following years. Now in Q3 we've seen a strong growth. What do you think about 2024 now? If you're still expecting a slow growth, can you give us a scope for that? That would be very interesting.
Second question. After Telefonica has provided and will make an offer, there has been some discussion on the market on the implications for 1&1, specifically for consolidation that's been heavily discussed. Could you please give us your opinion on that? Are there, in fact, possibilities for a consolidation of the German mobile market from 4 to 3 players?
And in addition to that topic, I think that you hinted at the event in Q2 that, in the medium term, there will be possibilities for a deeper network cooperation with Vodafone. So not a true consolidation, but rather a deep network cooperation. Could you elaborate on that, please, what possibilities you see in that area? And if maybe that has even started already?
[Interpreted] I think talking about the slow growth, maybe it was my fault, I didn't communicate it correctly. I think generally speaking, we are expecting growth to slow down the more clients we provide contracts to. But I don't see that happening in the next year yet. We haven't approved our business plan for next year yet. But from -- at the moment, I would say that growth is to be expected at the same level as this year. But again, this is not a final answer. This is just my feeling when I look at how business is currently going.
On the consolidation in the network, Mobile Network market, I cannot really comment on what Telefonica thinks. But what I can say is how we see the world. We started as a fourth network operator, and we see good business opportunities in that segment. We are not thinking about participating in any consolidation.
On the strengthening of the network cooperation with Vodafone, I think this is about contemplating if, on the long term, we're building everything ourselves or we're going to work with partners. That's already given in Germany in the so-called gray spots where Vodafone, Telefonica and Telekom cooperate. One of them operates in antenna and the other 2 also use this antenna.
I think for a new operator, that's also interesting, that when we talk about the expansion into rural areas, we are going to think about whether, in such gray spots, it is possible to cooperate with others. But this has not been discussed as of yet, therefore, nothing has been started or kicked off yet either. That's just a theoretical view on the market that I think, at the end of the day, just like the others, we will cooperate with the others, especially in rural areas.
[Interpreted] There are currently no further questions in the German conference. So I'll hand over to Sara for the English questions.
[Operator Instructions] This is from the line of Polo Tang from UBS.
I have 2. The first one is just on service revenues. We saw a notable acceleration to plus 3.7% growth in Q3 compared to plus 0.4% in Q2. But can you remind us what the quantum of price rises were on both mobile and broadband? Also, was there any seasonality or one-offs in the numbers, for example, a boost from roaming revenues on mobile?
Second question is on broadband, because if I look at the subscriber declines in broadband, they continued in Q3. But can you just comment on what gives you the confidence that the base can be stable or growing in Q4? And how do you think about the trajectory into 2024? If the base is stable or even growing for broadband, should we expect service revenue trends to accelerate further in the coming quarters given that we have both price rises and improving subscriber trends?
[Interpreted] Thank you. On the service revenue in Q3. We did not have any significant one-off. What's clear is that in Q3, of course, you have more revenue from international roaming, but that was also the case in Q3 2022. What we can see is that there is participant growth. And we also see the implications of the price increases that we've established by the... [Audio Gap] as an effect, and that's what we're also expecting for Q4. So this growth is what we're expecting for Q4.
And I assume that we will also see a nice growth of the service revenue in 2024 due to the growing customer numbers and also due to the fact that the customers that we're gaining today will generate a higher service revenue compared to the past.
On broadband connections, or more specifically on the broadband connections in Q4. We are very strong when it comes to marketing fiber-to-the-home. There we've made good progress throughout the year. We also have launched a strong campaign just recently that works very well. And we are migrating our ADSL customers to VDSL. That means we're reducing the pressure to terminate contracts. And we can already see that when we look at new customers and when we look at terminations of existing customers, we can see that we will not lose any further customers in Q4. That is also our goal for next year.
As I said, we -- I haven't seen the business plan yet. But as I'm sitting here today, I would say that we will be successful in achieving a stable customer base in the Broadband segment next year. Our marketing focus, of course, will go to glass fiber or fiber-to-the-home, that's where we see the future. And that's where we also want to position our brand.
That's still quite expensive at the moment because the footprint is not as big yet, but I think it's a good time right now, and also the next years will be a good time for us to position the brand 1&1 in the Glass Fiber segment. And I think it's a great opportunity as well to position us strongly in that segment.
[Operator Instructions] Next question comes from the line of Adam Fox-Rumley from HSBC.
I had 2 questions on the Mobile Network build, please. Firstly, could I ask you about how you see the importance of low-band spectrum frequencies in the context of the agreement with Vodafone? We discussed at the half year how important in building coverage is. But as you begin to run your network, I imagine you'll end up with a lot of handoffs inside between 1&1 and Vodafone. I know that's not ideal, but would it be acceptable potentially through to the end of the decade?
And then the second question was on the build-out rate. I think you've previously spoken about building 3,000 sites in 2024. You mentioned 2,000 today. And so I wondered if you could talk about the difference. Is it down to your largest partner or maybe perhaps just a more realistic run rate? I'm just trying to understand what might drive acceleration in the build pace from here.
[Interpreted] Thank you for your question. So let's start with the low band. I think for all network operators, it's important to have low band. Even if you do not expand your network across wide areas, you need this connection for the indoor supply. In 2019, the bandwidth we had purchased, the frequencies, they are not appropriate for this. And if you don't have low-band frequencies, then also the radio cells we can contact via our antenna. This means we would have to purchase additional low bands. And that doesn't make economic sense. So that's why we, of course, target these low-band frequencies.
But in addition to this financial question, trying to save unnecessary roaming costs, it is also about how we can differentiate it. Having decentralized data centers in our network, that will really support real-time applications. We can supply these applications from our Far EDGE data centers. And we don't have these advantages in roaming. But once we have roaming, we have to use someone else's network. So it's a financial question, but it also plays into our differentiation aspects.
Now on the number of antenna, maybe I phrased that incorrectly, sorry for that. We are focusing greatly on 2,000 additional antenna next year, for which we already have contracts, and there's the time line for them. But of course, our target is to go towards 3,000 new sites. But for 2,000, we already have clear plans on which side is to be built.
This is from the line of Keval Khiroya from Deutsche Bank.
I've got 2 questions, please. So firstly, spectrum leasing could be one solution, which could give you access to spectrum, medium term, what's allowing for prolongation, is spectrum leasing attractive? And do you think this is something the other network operators would be willing to entertain?
And secondly, looking at 2024, consensus currently models 1.5% EBITDA growth. I appreciate you haven't given 2024 guidance yet, but is it reasonable to assume growth, or is it less likely if wholesale costs are pretty stable? And I presume you may have some one-off costs as you prepare for Vodafone as well.
[Interpreted] Our spectrum leasing is with Telefonica as of today until the end of 2025, and it affects frequencies at 2,600 megahertz. And this leasing comes from the EU fusion approval, so merging with ePlus Telefonica. We are using this spectrum across all masts.
And yes, I could imagine leasing additional spectrum going forward. But of course, it doesn't make a difference whether you are allocated the spectrum by the Federal Network Agency or whether a different network operator is allocated this spectrum, and then they can, again, rent it out or lease it. So that doesn't make a difference in terms of quality. So I could well imagine it. And that doesn't only refer to the frequency of 2,600, but also low band frequencies, 800 or 700, 900 megahertz.
So I'm very open-minded here. And what's important is just to gain a fair share of it.
On the EBITDA 2024, I can't really tell you anything about that. As at today, our operational business is going very well. And I can also tell you that next year, when it comes to the 1&1 Mobile Network, we won't only see costs, but also cost savings because we will be able to produce ourselves. However, we don't have a plan yet, but I'm quite optimistic. I think 2024 will be a good year.
This is from the line of Stephane Beyazian from ODDO BHF.
Sorry, I wasn't very clear on the translation of the price actions. So just coming back on that. Can you compare the impact of the revenue contribution from the price actions in Mobile versus the price action you've done in Broadband? And just remind us which month most of the price actions have been down, so that we can sort of anticipate how they will also contribute in the future.
I was just wondering also, second question is on the CapEx, whether you think that the EUR 320 million CapEx this year is also a good benchmark for future years. I mean, I think consensus is expecting some increase from that level. But do you feel confident actually you could potentially be a little bit consensus and remain not too far from that 2023 level?
And just a last comment. I was just wondering whether you are now ready to do an Investor Day as you fixed quite a couple of things lately. So do you feel you're already in the next future to tell us more about the 5G outlook?
[Interpreted] Stephane, the price increases and also contributions to revenues, and, well, that is the big question that Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Vodafone are getting, and you will not find a split in their answers either on how this impacts revenues.
Second question, we had communicated that a peak CapEx is expected for next year, so EUR 320 million. And we haven't passed the 2024 guidance yet, but still this should be reflected in the consensus.
We'll now take our next question. This is from the line of Andrew Lee from Goldman Sachs.
I just had one question, and it's on -- with regard to your multiple comments on the, I guess, surprise or your response to the regulator talking about extending low-band spectrum allocations. If that transpires, I wonder if you could talk about what you think you should be allowed to do -- you should or could be allowed to do as a result. Maybe talk about your -- whether you see any flexibility in your plans for the network build that you could argue are justified as a result of that.
For example, could you -- do you think you are in a position to negotiate with the regulator a slower network build as a result, a smaller network build than current requirements you have to build? Any comments you can make about whether you see any flexibility as a result of what you clearly consider to be a moving of the goalposts in terms of spectrum allocation would be greatly appreciated.
[Interpreted] Well, we, of course, have come up with our plan to build a network, and we want to reach 50% of German households. I think you can see that it's not that easy. We have taken quite long to have a decent national roaming, and it took very long to get up to speed with regard to the masts. And now the next step is to launch mobile services. And in December, we want to have a fully functional network. And the last step will, of course, be the frequencies and the allocation here. So that's our plan.
Having slower network expansion or reducing the scope of it, we don't really plan for that. And I don't want to enter into this discussion because there is no reason to -- with this option. We're in a market where 4 providers are requesting. So why should only 3 be able to do that? You can see that across Europe, in France, in Spain, in Poland, and even in the U.S., which is a market that is usually referenced, everywhere, you have at least 4 providers and networks are working well. So I don't really see why we should renounce frequencies.
And looking at the frequencies that are now on the table, it's not only low-band, it's also 1,800 and 2,600 megahertz, or 1,500, and there are many areas which are barely used in Germany. So there is no reason really to change that plan.
[Operator Instructions] We'll now take our next question. This is from the line of Usman Ghazi from Berenberg.
I just wanted to touch base again please on the Mobile -- on the commercial momentum we've seen in Mobile in Q3. I mean, 190,000 net adds, that's the strongest performance since 2019. And I mean, is that just a function of the company having spent a bit more on marketing in Q3? Or has something else happened in the market that might explain the strong performance?
And then going into Q4, I can see that we've obviously got the typical November promotions coming in now, and 1&1 is active. So this momentum, it seems to me should be able to continue into Q4, maybe not at the level that we've seen in Q3. But any commentary around the sustainability of the commercial momentum that you're seeing in Mobile would be helpful.
The second question was around the tower build. So you're doing 500 kind of colocations currently, and you confirmed that you're doing 300 with build-to-suit. This kind of 800 run rate from a combination of co-locations and build-to-suit, is that -- how much confidence do you have in kind of that? Because that would take you to over 3,000 next year, right, on an annual basis.
[Interpreted] The growth in Q3 was driven by good promotions. It's also driven by marketing. I would say expenses weren't significantly higher than usually. So it was largely driven by the promotions, the offers.
In Q4, I see a similar development. If you look at our guidance with 500,000 contracts by the end of the year, we're currently at 330,000. So we're missing at least 170,000. If we look at the Broadband segment, we have a stable customer base there. That means we need to get roughly 170,000 new Mobile clients. That's how we see the market at the moment. We believe that in Q4, we can acquire at least 170,000 new Mobile clients, and that we can remain stable in Broadband.
On the speed of the build. We have a strong Q4 with 500 new masts in colocation and 300 new leases that we're planning for. Whether we can continue that speed next year, I would definitely hope we can, but I'm more or less sure that we can achieve roughly 2,000 new masts that we will acquire next year. And the rest, I cannot give a definite answer on.
We will now take our next question. This is from Joshua Mills from BNP Paribas Exane.
It's 2 questions for me, please. The first is on the contract you have signed with Vodafone on your wholesale MVNO agreement going forward. You referred in the call to this being a precontract and the full contract hasn't yet been signed. So could you tell us, please, when you expect the full contract to be signed? And what that -- in place in terms of potential break fees, if for some reason you or Vodafone decided not to go ahead with that contract?
The second question is just related to pricing, and I'm sorry if this has been asked already, but I didn't hear it in the translation. Have you raised prices for your existing customers, i.e., back book prices, during the third quarter or during the last 2 months? And if so, can you tell us how much those back book price increases were both in fixed and mobile?
[Interpreted] The negotiations with Vodafone are ongoing, and we are working very well with them. We want to sign or conclude the main contract in this quarter. Maybe it will happen in the next quarter, we'll see. On such a national roaming contract, these national roaming contracts include a lot of annexes, hundreds of pages with technical specifications, technical descriptions that team will have to come up with and align on. But generally speaking, I don't see any reasons for there not being a main contract that will be signed.
There are no break fees either because this precontract that we've concluded is already binding. It's not a declaration of intent, but rather a binding contract that only has very few pages, outlining the core components. And now these few pages will now have to be turned into many pages with more detailed descriptions. We have to do this in a very diligent manner, and of course, that takes time. But Vodafone is already working on the provisioning of national roaming. The teams are working very well together. So I don't see any reasons to believe that this will not work out.
On the price increases. Our prices for new clients have been increased by the end of last year, at the beginning of this year. In the DSL segment, we have had -- we have abolished promotions or ended promotions for certain client groups that were below the list prices. So now we're asking for these list prices with these client groups. But I cannot tell you in detail how many euros that amounted to exactly.
And sorry, to follow up for existing customers. I think there have been some price increases as well. Have you raised prices for customers who are already on your network?
[Interpreted] As I said, we have increased prices for existing customers to our normal list prices for, and that applied to existing customers who were below these list prices. I cannot say more on that. I can only say that it worked well overall. And that nowadays customers do comprehend such price increases. They understand them.
We will now take our next question. This is from the line of Mathieu Robilliard from Barclays.
I had 2 questions. And the first one was about the recent announcement you made about signing an MVNO deal with Vodafone for 5G tariffs. Am I right in understanding that this is kind of a bridge between now for new customers and the moment where you will have a full roaming agreement with Vodafone?
And the second question is coming back to the previous one, in terms of the contract negotiation with Vodafone. I wanted to make sure I understand correctly, that the only binding thing was the precontract. But in theory, both parties could walk away from assigning a final contract without any penalties. Is that the right understanding?
[Interpreted] Let me start with the contract negotiations with Vodafone. It's not like both parties can just run off. The contract is absolutely binding for both parties. And it is defined that, if we cannot agree on a specific matter, which I don't see coming, but if that is the case, we cannot agree on a specific matter, that the Federal Agency Network will then be the arbitrator in that case and will decide on how this aspect of the precontract will be migrated into the main contract.
So this precontract is absolutely binding. Nobody can walk away from it. If we don't agree on the implementation, which is not the case at the moment, but if that's the case, the Federal Network Agency will make a decision. And that's binding for both parties.
On the 5G MVNO contract that we have with Vodafone. That's not a single contract. We've already had an MVNO contract with Vodafone for many years, I think, since 2010 or something like that, so for many years really. And that contract has been extended to include 5G. We want to use that as a bridge until Vodafone provides national roaming to us.
So that would be proposed to your existing customers that are on the Vodafone network and/or any new customers -- sorry, and the Vodafone current MVNO or any new customers that want to -- that would be using again Vodafone network. So it's both existing customers based on Vodafone network or future ones? Is that correct?
[Interpreted] I hope I understood correctly -- I understood you correctly. So we have existing clients already today in the MVNO -- in the Vodafone MVNO, but they are not using 5G yet. And now we're talking about new client acquisition. If we're acquiring new clients with contracts where we offer 5G, then we will start by providing 5G to them via the Vodafone MVNO.
But our existing clients remain in the Telefonica network when it comes to 5G because we first want to migrate clients that are using 4G. We have a lot of clients in the discount segment that are only entitled to 4G. And when we migrate them, we will start with those customers, so that we don't migrate any 5G clients to Vodafone MVNO, but that we rather migrate 4G MVNO customers that we have largely in the Telefonica network to our own network, with national roaming by Telefonica 4G, and we acquire new customers with 4G for our own network with Telefonica national roaming. But new customers that want to have 5 G, they will now, in this transitionary period go into the 5G MVNO Vodafone.
I hope that this now answers the question or it was a sufficient explanation. If not, feel free to ask follow-up questions.
We will now take our final question. The last question today is from Ben Rickett from New Street Research.
I just had a follow-up on the previous question. So I think you're currently requesting authorization from VNet to be able to use this bridge Vodafone 5G MVNO. If you don't receive authorization, would that change the time line that you've set out for the migration of your subscriber base? And if you're not able to offer 5G services during that bridge period, how big an impact would that have on your subscriber growth?
[Interpreted] If the parallel operation is not authorized, then we will have to take 5G customers onto our network for the first couple of months. But then these customers would only have a small 5G footprint.
I believe that it will not have any major implications. They wouldn't have any major implications. Why? Because also our competitors are providing 5G with old antennas only with a software upgrade. But they don't actually operate at 3.6 gigahertz, which means that the customer has 5G on his display but he doesn't actually has the speed -- doesn't actually have the speed that he would have if 3.6 gigahertz antennas were used.
So I don't think the difference will be drastic, and I think that will be okay for this bridge period of 6 months.
And there are no further questions. So I will now hand the conference back to Oliver Keil for closing remarks.
[Interpreted] Thank you, operator. Thank you, also for the very interesting question-and-answer session. Of course, we, as Investor Relations, are always available to you also after this session, and we're looking forward to continuing this discussion with you on our way to becoming the fourth operator -- network operator in Germany with the most modern network without Chinese components.
All the best, and enjoy the call with the United Internet AG.
[Interpreted] And this closes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You can now hang up.
[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]