Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom (NYSE:TEO) used its earnings call for the year and fourth quarter ended December 31, 2025, to highlight the impact of its 2025 acquisition of Telefónica Móviles Argentina (TMA), a return to real growth in service revenues at the legacy business, and continued investment in fiber and 5G.
Management said the results were presented on a consolidated basis including 10 months of TMA contribution (March through December 2025), alongside figures for Telecom excluding TMA and standalone TMA metrics for the full year. The company also noted that its 2025 reported figures reflect inflation accounting under IAS 29, and that it provided some historical figures for easier interpretation.
Revenue growth driven by TMA, with an inflection point at legacy Telecom
Excluding TMA, management said total service revenues grew 4% year-over-year in real terms, which it characterized as the first year of real growth since the adoption of IAS 29. Pra added that mobile, broadband, and Pay TV service revenues were growing in real terms at a weighted average rate of 7%, while fixed voice and data grew below inflation.
On TMA as a standalone business, management said service revenues grew 4% in real terms during 2025 to approximately $2.1 billion. Pra emphasized that Telecom does not determine TMA’s pricing strategy, noting TMA continues to define and implement its own commercial strategy independently.
Subscriber trends: broadband and Pay TV growth, prepaid cleanup in mobile
Operationally, the company said the combined footprint across Telecom and TMA reinforced its market position in mobile, while fixed services showed signs of recovery.
- Mobile (Telecom/Personal): Prepaid accesses fell 10.7% year-over-year to almost 12 million in 4Q 2025, which management attributed to an updated disconnection criterion for new prepaid adds implemented in July 2024 that shortened inactivity periods before deactivation. Postpaid decreased 3.2% to almost 8 million. Management said the prepaid decline was largely lines with no traffic and “does not generate an impact on mobile service revenues.” Postpaid represented 40% of the total mobile base, up from 38% in 4Q 2024.
- Broadband (Telecom/Personal): Broadband accesses rose 3.2% year-over-year to 4.2 million in 4Q 2025, driven by FTTH adoption. FTTH reached almost 1.3 million accesses and represented 30% of the broadband base.
- Pay TV (Telecom/Personal Flow): Subscriber base in Argentina increased 1.4% year-over-year to almost 3.3 million. Unique Flow customers reached almost 2 million, up by more than 490,000, helped by Flow Flex, according to management.
- TMA mobile: Postpaid accesses grew 2.2% year-over-year to over 9 million, representing 49% of TMA’s mobile base. These figures included machine-to-machine connections of almost 2.9 million, up 6% versus 2024.
- TMA broadband: Broadband accesses rose 5.8% year-over-year to more than 1.6 million, with about 95% on FTTH technology.
- TMA Pay TV: Subscriber base declined 7.9% year-over-year, a net loss of about 33,000 customers, to 391,000.
When combining Telecom and TMA, management said broadband grew 3.9% and Pay TV grew 0.4%, while mobile subscribers declined mainly due to the prepaid disconnection policy change at Telecom.
Profitability: higher EBITDA margins, efficiency actions at TMA
Pra said consolidated EBITDA margin reached 30.3% in fiscal 2025 in constant currency, improving by more than 200 basis points versus 2024. In nominal terms, the company reported a 31.7% EBITDA margin for 2025.
Management also provided several margin views tied to the TMA integration and severance charges:
- Consolidated EBITDA margin would have been “over 32%” excluding an increase in the run rate of severance charges at TMA.
- On a comparable basis excluding TMA contributions, EBITDA margin reached 33.7%, which management said was the highest level since 2020.
- In real terms, EBITDA increased by ARS 1 trillion, or 65% year-over-year, supported by TMA’s contribution and efficiency efforts.
Pra highlighted cost areas that contributed to margin expansion, including fees for service, maintenance, and materials, citing lower maintenance and supplies, handset costs, and lower labor costs associated with “right sizing” efforts.
For TMA specifically, management outlined an efficiency plan aimed at bringing TMA’s margin closer to Telecom’s, including elimination of management and brand fees, optimization of handset and SIM procurement, and initiatives to reduce video platform operating costs. Looking ahead, the company pointed to further efforts in programming expenses and optimization of the commercial network. Pra said TMA’s EBITDA margin excluding higher severance charges was approximately 26% versus 11% in fiscal 2024.
Management said TMA contributed nearly $1.9 billion in consolidated revenues and over $0.4 billion in consolidated EBITDA during 2025, and that on a standalone annual basis TMA generated almost $2.3 billion in revenues and EBITDA of $0.5 billion versus $265 million reported in 2024 under the prior owner.
Net results, CapEx, and cash flow
Head of Investor Relations Luis Rial Ubago said consolidated EBIT increased in fiscal 2025 with the EBITDA expansion, and the company recorded operating income of ARS 450 million. He cited an operating margin of 5.4% of consolidated revenues in real terms (and “almost 23%” in historical figures).
The company posted a consolidated net loss of approximately ARS 145 million in 2025, compared with net income of almost ARS 1.4 trillion in 2024. Management attributed the 2024 net income largely to financial gains from a strong real appreciation of the Argentine peso that created significant positive exchange differences on foreign-currency debt. In 2025, management said inflation ran below peso devaluation, resulting in FX exchange losses that hurt financial results.
Capital expenditures in PP&E and intangible assets totaled almost ARS 1.5 trillion—an equivalent of over $1 billion at the official exchange rate—representing 17.8% of revenues, and rising 98% year-over-year in constant pesos. The company said investments prioritized FTTH expansion and 5G deployment. Key network figures cited included 105 new sites deployed, nearly 688 existing sites upgraded, over 800 new 5G sites added in the 3.5 GHz band, and a 5G footprint surpassing 1,000 sites by year-end. In fixed access, the company cited more than 16,000 new blocks deployed for FTTH and overlays of almost 11,400 HFC blocks, with more than 1 million homes passed during 2025—described as the largest FTTH rollout since the Telecom-Cablevisión merger.
On cash generation, management said free cash flow before dividends and interest payments was over $0.6 billion in 2025. The company said the year-over-year expansion exceeded $0.2 billion and could have been around $0.3 billion excluding TMA’s extraordinary tax payments.
Balance sheet, FX resilience, and debt maturity actions
Management said net debt to estimated pro forma EBITDA was about 1.7x in 2025, improving versus 2024 despite the financing used for the TMA acquisition. Using the company’s pro forma USD conversions, management cited pro forma revenues of $6.1 billion and pro forma EBITDA of $1.8 billion as of December 2025, with gross debt of $3.7 billion, cash and equivalents over $0.5 billion, and net debt of $3.2 billion.
The company also discussed FX sensitivity, stating that FX depreciation in 3Q 2025 had low impact on EBITDA and almost no effect on leverage, and that in 4Q 2025 a 5.4% FX variation was outpaced by 7.9% inflation, helping the company “absorb” currency movement.
On liability management, management said it extended the average life of debt to more than five years and secured $2.7 billion of financing during 2025. It also referenced a $600 million 10-year final maturity note issued in January 2026, describing the transaction as an unprecedented milestone for the company and Argentine corporates, with an order book exceeding 3.3x the issued amount. Management said these actions helped deconcentrate maturities, reduce refinancing risk, and preserve competitive funding costs.
Separately, management noted a dividend payment announced in November and highlighted several financing-related awards mentioned during the call.
In closing remarks, management reiterated its focus on broadband-led recovery in fixed services, continued record FTTH and 5G expansion, and progress in digital financial services. The company said Personal Pay reached 4.7 million onboarded clients in Argentina (29% annual growth) and reported increases in total payment volume and transaction counts, alongside more than ARS 414 billion in remunerated client account balances as of December 2025. Management also said it formed a joint venture with Banco Macro to accelerate Personal Pay’s growth and expand its product offering.
About Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom (NYSE:TEO)
Telecom Argentina Stet – France Telecom (NYSE:TEO) is an integrated telecommunications provider based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Originally formed through the 1990 privatization of the state-owned Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (ENTel), the company was initially backed by Italian state carrier STET and French operator France Télécom. Since its listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker TEO, Telecom Argentina has evolved into one of the country’s principal communications groups, offering a comprehensive portfolio of voice and data services.
The company’s core business activities span fixed-line telephony, mobile services, broadband internet and digital television.
