TIM Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 9, 2023

There are 12 speakers on the call.

Operator

Morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Team S. A. 2023 First Quarter Results Conference Call. We'd like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in listen only mode during the company's presentation. There will be a replay for this call on the company's website.

Operator

After TSA's remarks are completed, There will be a question and answer session for participants. At that time, further instructions will be given. We highlight that statements that may be made regarding the prospects, projections and goals of TIMSA constitute the beliefs and assumptions of the company's Board of Executive Officers. Future considerations are not performance warranties. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as they refer to events that may or may not occur.

Operator

Investors should understand that internal and external factors to TIMSA may affect their performance and lead to different results than those planned. Now, I'll turn the conference over to the CEO, Mr. Alberto Griselli, CEO of TIMSA and to Ms. Andrea Villegas, Chief Financial Officer, to present the main messages for the Q1 of 2023. Please, Mr.

Operator

Alberto, you may proceed.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and thanks for attending our results conference call. I'm pleased to welcome here today Andrea Viegas, our Chief Financial Officer, who was recently promoted to this position from within our ranks. Her extensive knowledge of team and the industry will be a great asset to our C suite. And In her debut as CFO, we are presenting a set of some numbers to the market. This first quarter was again of the new moment of the company with outstanding achievements due to the sharp execution of our strategic plan.

Speaker 1

We have completed 100% of the M and A integration process, while overcoming many obstacles related to macroeconomic deterioration and dealing with the uncertainties of a noisy political environment. Our top line rose more than 20% year over year with EBITDA growing 23%. This combination led to a margin expansion and operating free cash flow to double versus the Q1 of 2022. During the quarter, we closed a partnership with Way Brazil to cover 600 kilometers of highways in the country's Midwest. This type of agreements makes sense economically and transforms people lives in a perfect integration with our ESG strategy.

Speaker 1

Our coverage will benefit nearly 300,000 people, more than 100 public schools and over 40 health centers. We are also well positioned to reach our goals in the commissioning process with more than 1 point 5 ks size dismantled since November 2022. Going over the details of our business performance, I want to highlight our revenue dynamics. In the Q1, total service revenues grew more than 20% year on year With a relevant contribution from mobile services that expanded beyond 21%. With competitive environment and the end of the necessary post M and A adjustment to our mobile customer base, ARPU is back to positive growth, reaching nearly BRL28 per month.

Speaker 1

Analyzing the mobile segments individually, Postpaid revenues presented robust growth, up by more than 21% year over year with an ARPU Excluding machine to machine lines of R48 in the Q1, prepaid revenues expanded soundly at the pace of more than 27% versus the Q1 of 2022, pointing to an ARPU of close to BRL14. As mentioned earlier, ARPUs in postpaid and prepaid are starting to recover after the dilution created By Oi's former client's arrival and after the cleanup of silent lines, we also reclassified lines from postpaid to prepaid in March to correctly manage those customers. Since I'm talking about OiAssets impact, It is worth giving additional details of the integration completion. In March, we concluded 100% of all the network integration steps. We are using the acquired spectrum and clients are benefiting from the additional capacity.

Speaker 1

The non overlapped sites were integrated into our network, helping to expand coverage and improve customer experience. As for the client migration, we completed all the activities regarding those clients in April, executing the major cleanups And reclassification necessary to have a coherent and healthy customer base. Having finalized those actions, We are starting to see more and more of the benefits of these transactions. Synergies are becoming more apparent in our results with of the commissioning process, which is still in the early stages. Although we had physically decommissioned more than 1.5 Thousand Size by March 23, the financial impact of this dismantling process will amount to a relevant size towards the end of the second half.

Speaker 1

In mobile, our 5 gs strategy is paying off. We are being able to combine and efficiency to build our solid leadership in this technology. TIM has the highest availability 5 gs technology As a consequence of defining the most relevant markets and ensuring we have a large and meaningful coverage in them. This leadership was achieved with almost twice the number of 5 gs size than our competitors. Additionally, 5 gs successful rollout is allowing us to reduce CapEx related to 4 gs capacity As traffic offloads from the older network to the new technology.

Speaker 1

As we advance from our From volume to value strategy, we keep improving our clients' customers' experience. We still have a long journey ahead of us, But we are achieving relevant milestones. The number of complaints is reducing steadily And we are the least complaint operator in Sao Paulo Consumer Protection Agency with a 50% reduction year on a year In the last survey, the lease complained in prepaid at Anatel. Additionally, we are by far The best performing operator in resolving clients' issues. We've been leading the annotate complaints resolution ranking for More than a year now, more recently, we achieved the 4th position in resolution ranking Across all sectors in all procons, the consumer protection agencies, in this resolution ranking of reclania key portal, We ranked number 2 among all companies in Brazil and the only recommended among operators.

Speaker 1

In the fixed services, the growth driver remained team ultrafibra with solid performance. Fixed broadband revenues High single digit expansion, broadband ARPU grew year over year for the 17th consecutive quarter, Reaching almost BRL93. Our broadband continues to be driven by the successful migration from FTTC to FTTH. Nonetheless, during the Q1, we also saw net additions to pick up after the launch of the pilots to expand coverage in Parana and Santa Catarina States. We closed the quarter with a client base beyond 730,000 connections And we are now present in more than 70 cities.

Speaker 1

This expansion is being achieved without losing the quality and focus on customer experience. For the 6th year, team Ultrafibra was appointed the best fixed broadband in the country by the tech portal Canaltek. I will now pass the floor to Andrea to review the financial results.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Alberto. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new CFO of TIM in Brazil. I'm very excited to work with you and the rest of the leadership team to drive this company to our success. I also look forward to building a strong and lasting relationship with the financial community. Without further delays, Let's talk about numbers.

Speaker 2

As Alberto explained well, the Q1 signals a robust performance in all relevant lines On our results, the country's macroeconomic challenge and the uncertainties have not impacted us at least Yes. Our performance continued to be driven by the M and A integration and the organic growth. Despite inflationary pressure, our OpEx line is starting to decelerate as we are reaching the end of the integration process of Oi Mobile Assets. As a consequence of this in the revenue in robust space, our EBITDA is rising more than 20% year over year, reaching BRL2.6 billion. Under this scenario, the EBITDA margin is returning to expansion.

Speaker 2

After a year of contraction Due to the additional costs related to the M and A transaction and comparison based issues, The margin rose to 46%, an expansion of 100 basis points versus the Q1 of 2022. Regarding those two elements, this is the Q1 we have a fair comparison base for fiber less mile rental. On the other hand, the negative impact of the temporary service agreement with Oi was still present In Q1 'twenty three, the contract ended only in April. From now on, As a present in our guidance, we believe TIM will deliver margins above the 2022 levels. This excellent EBITDA performance is driving net income back to growth despite all the transitory impacts We have presented and explained to you in the recent past.

Speaker 2

We closed the Q1 with profits summing almost R440 $1,000,000 growing above 4% year over year. Those transitory elements are still present. During the quarter, more than BRL207 million were added between depreciation and interest related to the leasing contracts we have got from Oi. Additionally, during Q1 'twenty three, We saw negative impacts from a provision updated for civil contingents. We did not announce IOC will declare their first trends only last month.

Speaker 2

But on deposit side, we had elements such as the negotiation As mentioned last quarter, net income performance is still volatile. So a better way to understand Our evolution is to use operation free cash flow metrics. EBITDA after lease minor capitals grew more than 2x, reaching more than BRL 530 1,000,000. Under this circumstance, we maintained a Solid financial position and leverage level. The net debt to EBITDA ratio stood at 1.4 times With a total net debt including leases of BRL15.1 billion, again, This sustainable trend leave us comfortable in a scenario of high interest rates.

Speaker 2

Now I hand the call back to Alberto to complete the discussion related to the Q1.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Andrea. We are completing 1 year from the closing of the transaction with Oi. During this period, our efforts concentrated on integrating the assets and executing the company's transformation plan, And we are reaching an important milestone with the completion of the integration, but we still have a lot in front of us. Our focus for the coming quarters will be centered on having a healthy competition environment where we can recover the inflation impact while using other tools of the marketing mix to differentiate from our competitors. We want to compete on value proposition and customer experience and 5 gs can help us do so while saving CapEx.

Speaker 1

As I mentioned during my speech, we are only beginning the site the commissioning process. The plan is on track And we are committed to delivering on time and with all the expected benefits. For fixed broadband, We will continue to use the asset light model to expand testing this approach in new markets while we complete The migration from FTTC to FTTH. The coming quarters for customer platform initiative will be more exciting. We will soon deploy commercially our partnership with Cartauditodos, our health partner and new partnership will be launched.

Speaker 1

Lastly, we will continue to evolve our B2B verticals. We are expanding our activities in logistics With this like the one with Wave Brazil, bringing IoT connectivity and solution to Brazilian infrastructure. On the utility vertical, we doubled the number of smart lighting points since the Q3 of last year And the expansion will continue at exponential speed. Today ENGIE is our main partner in these projects. And for our crown jewel, the agribusiness segment, we extended our coverage to 14,400,000 I'm reaching the end of my comments and I want to thank the entire team because we are starting the year at a strong pace.

Speaker 1

Things We will not get easier from here, so we must keep up with the great work maintaining the focus and the execution to reach our goals by the end of the year. Let's open the floor for questions. Please, operator?

Operator

Thank you, Mr. Alberto. Now we will begin the Q and A session. First, we will take questions from analysts followed by general public, both in English. If you are listening through webcast, Your questions can be sent by Our first question comes from Marcelo Santos with JPMorgan.

Speaker 3

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I have 2. The first question is, could you please just explain the reason for the gap Between the decommissioning the physical decommissioning of the towers and the financial impact, I think clarification would help. And the second question is on broadband ads.

Speaker 3

How much of the fiber ads you're doing a replacement of fiber to the curb? And when you are done with your fiber to the curb, I mean at this space eventually you run out of fiber FTTC subs, Should we expect kind of the same level of gross adds in fiber? That's the question. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Marcelo. So I'm open. Okay. So in terms of the gap between the physical decommissioning, the economic decommissioning, It's primarily related to the inter working among ourselves and the tower company To get the, let's say, the green light for the economic decommission. So it's like when you rent an apartment and you leave it, You need to take out all the stuff that you have inside.

Speaker 1

Then at the end of it, there is an inspection and if the apartment It's found clear, then we are good to go in terms of economic decommissioning. So the first step, which is the physical one, is taking all the equipment out of the towers, Whereby the second one is related to the inter working among ourselves and the tower company to make sure that then Agree and green light the fact that the tower is empty. So this in practice is a back and go of documents, Picture and inspection to make sure that both us and our partner are clear that the tower is empty. So this is for the first one. In terms of timing, it depends on the tower company, on the process, on the equipment that is there, But roughly the guidance that we gave is once we are done with the physical decommissioning, it generally takes among roughly 90 days To move from the physical to the economic decommissioning.

Speaker 1

Okay. Related to the second question in terms of net additions, As you correctly saw, there is an acceleration of net adds on FTTH in this quarter. So this is a combination of the migration of copper to fiber, which is happening primarily Or better exclusively on the iSys and plant in Sao Paulo Rio de Janeiro. So our share of FTTH was 60% 1 year ago. It's roughly 80% today.

Speaker 1

So we are moving faster. We are almost completing The process, when you look at the increase that we saw, for example, in this quarter and what we Going to expect for the following quarter is the combination of the two things. So the migration of copper to fiber, which is almost finished And the increased coverage of new regions. So with the agreement with Vital, we moved to Parana and Santa Catarina in the South and a chunk of the net additions is coming from there as well. If you ask me how will it look going forward, it will look closer to what we are seeing in this quarter.

Speaker 1

So we moved To something like 15 ks net addition, 16.4 to be precise in this quarter. This number was a bit below this number in the previous quarters. Year on year, we moved from 5% to 16%, and we are likely to now We'll move steadily on this level going forward.

Speaker 3

Perfect. Very clear. Thank you very much.

Operator

The next question comes from Marco Nardini with XP.

Speaker 4

Hello, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I actually have 2 on my side. The first one is regarding the expected dynamics of the EBITDA margin Following the end of the TSA with Oi, what should we expect here? And the second one is regarding neutral network.

Speaker 4

I was wondering if you could share your initial

Speaker 1

Okay, Marco. So on the first on the EBITDA margin, we said in our guidance for 2023 that we were Expecting to move up double digit. This implies clearly a margin expansion versus last year. And so we are basically aiming to get to a level close to the one we have the previous year. The margin expansion is driven by a number of things.

Speaker 1

And so as you correctly mentioned, there is the conclusion of TSA that we remember it was something like €75,000,000 per €70,000,000 per quarter roughly. So we closed it at the end of this of the last quarter. And There are other additional opportunities related to the Oi customer base, which is in general less digitalized versus ours. So in terms of digital billing, fixed payment, this sort of stuff, there is an opportunity there. And there is a number of initiatives that we are running inside of our On operational that are related, for example, to the in sourcing of e commerce and many others activity that are expected to increase our productivity.

Speaker 1

So there will be a margin expansions going forward, and that's the reason why our EBITDA is going double digit versus high single digit of our Expected revenue growth. When we go to the natural network, I can say that we are happy with both Icy The experience so far has been quite positive. We can say that now the model is working correctly. So We are satisfied with the service level and the working of both agreements. In terms of how we are going to accelerate the 2 networks that we are using, it's in line with our plans.

Speaker 1

So They are complementary. So at the end of the day, we're going to use iSystem to expand coverage in some areas. And we are using we are going to use retail where ISSN is not present. So we're going to complement the rollout approach To avoid building a network where there is already another one.

Speaker 5

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Lucas Chavez with UBS.

Speaker 6

Good evening, everyone. So thanks for having my questions. So I have shown on my side too. The first one is related to ARPU. And If you could please enter in more details in the dynamic that you saw in the quarter and what you expect going forward?

Speaker 6

And about raising prices, do you expect to perform any of it during the next quarters? And the second one is the decommissioning. [SPEAKER CARLOS ALBERTO PEREIRA DE OLIVEIRA:] So you already explained well in the first question about the commissioning, but I would also like to enter in details about the schedule and

Speaker 1

Okay. So Lucas, going to the ARPU dynamics. So the ARPU dynamics, as you saw, We are back on track in terms of ARPU growth, both for prepaid and postpaid. And this is primarily the results of the cleanup of our customer base. So let's put this way, it's a sort of a mathematical effect.

Speaker 1

So we clean up and Almost the a big chunk of client that were not active, and therefore, basically, we reduced the denominator while impacting the revenues. And we expected this and we commented this in the last quarter results also. When you look more in general in terms of the pricing dynamics, So I think that here we have 2 important milestones. The first one is already passed. It's been related to the fact that Prices have been adjusted a bit above inflation on the entry prices, what we call above the line.

Speaker 1

That It means prices at retail stores and on the website for new customers. So this happened in March. And it worked out quite well. So that was the first important milestone. So we did it, Vivo did it and Claro did it partially.

Speaker 1

So We said the cycle managed for the first time in many years to pass inflation on the enterprises. What is going And now in this quarter, as a matter of fact, is happening is that the price adjustment on our side, on our own customer base. So we did that last year in this quarter, in Q2. We are going to do this in the Q2 this year. And so we are updating prices for control and postpaid this quarter.

Speaker 1

So you will see The results in the next quarter results. I think that important point that is going to be another Key points to look at next quarter is the washing machine effect that generally happens when we do this price adjustment on the customer base. So the thesis is that since the market is more rational, since we moved up the prices on the entry levels, The washing machine effect in the second quarter is going to be this year milder versus last year. So we're going to comment on this Next quarter, but this is the expectation on our side. Last comment is on prepaid.

Speaker 1

So we have been steadily increasing or remodulating the prepaid benefits and it's working out well, As you can see in terms of our prepaid revenues, and so we are readjusting unit prices within face value and benefits with a positive effect on our revenues. When it comes to your second question related to decommissioning, so we are on track, Lucas. So we end up March With the 1.5 ks towers decommissioned physically, we are as this week at 2.1. So we are moving according to our plan. That

Speaker 4

means that we're

Speaker 1

going to reach 3.5 ks by the end of this year roughly. The economic effect is going to pick up in the second half because this is this difference between [SPEAKER CARLOS GOMES DA SILVA:] The timing with the commission and the timing when the economic benefits kicks in. But so far, we are on track.

Operator

Our next question comes from Luca Brindin with Bank of America.

Speaker 7

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Two questions here from my side. First of all, when we look at the impacts from the 5 gs expansion, Were you able to see any signs of capitalization from this? I mean monetization from the 5 gs if you're gaining new customers Or if you're being able to upsell customers with 5 gs, what have been the early impacts from the rollout?

Speaker 7

And then second, if you could give us an update on CapEx, if there were any changes from what you initially expected for the year? Thank you.

Speaker 1

Okay. Let me go with the first one. I will pass on the CapEx guidance and then to Andrea. So in terms of 5 gs impact, Let's put this way. At this point in time, we are deploying 5 gs in a quite different way versus Our competitors meaning that we selected several markets where we go all in or sort of all in in terms of coverage.

Speaker 1

Well, this is our aim with this strategy. On the commercial side is to get the leadership on 5 gs And close the gap that we currently have in high value customers in the high value customer segment. So it's more of a positioning approach rather than monetization approach at this stage. And that's the reason why we selected capital like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro. We've got almost full coverage.

Speaker 1

We provide a better service to our customers And we increased the appeal of our positioning for the market. So this is the idea on the consumer space. The storytelling is 5 gs is better than 4 gs. This is proved in terms of quality of service. We are leading 5 gs, so It will become more attractive for high value customers.

Speaker 1

And we materialize this, for example, in big events like Rock in Rio last year, like The Maracana today, like the Carnival and all the events that we are doing were generally customer experience for services, And now we think we got a very good service. So this is more of a positioning approach on the consumer space. And of course, this is supported by a deployment of 5 gs, which is faster versus our competitors. The more economic benefit of it in the short term is related to the 4 gs of float. So what does it mean that when we put like for example in Sao Paulo, De Janeiro, Curitiba, Recife, we are deploying new capitals in new metropolitan areas as we speak, We move traffic from 4 gs versus 5 gs.

Speaker 1

That means that we can stop investing in these crowded markets 4 gs And move the investment with 5 gs. By doing this short shift of investment from 4 gs to 5 gs in these key capitals, We become more efficient in CapEx. So this is more tangible in terms of economic impact at this pace. Then we have also the Business segment, where we are using 5 gs again as a differentiation lever in key verticals like agribusiness or The logistics like the partnership that we have with San Martinho, which is the 5 gs Innovation Center or the coverage of the Santor Harbor with BTP, which is again a way to monetize it. But at this point in time, it's the first industrial project We are running on it, so it's more.

Speaker 1

Going forward, as coverage expand, as we move customers to 5 gs, The first opportunity to monetize 5 gs will be the data monetization itself. And plus, as you probably know, we are putting services in our 5 gs packages like cloud gaming, as soon as the mass of customers are on 5 gs, we can start to monetize. Today is more of an educational approach in terms of giving our customers 5 gs experience and for On the CapEx guidance, I will pass it to Andrea.

Speaker 2

Hi, Luca. Regarding to CapEx, we are on track. This Q1, we have higher CapEx is a seasonality point, but We will achieve our guidance that is CapEx over revenue lower than 10%.

Speaker 7

Very clear. Thank you for taking my questions.

Operator

Our next question comes from Benio Fedeli with Credit Suisse.

Speaker 8

Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking my questions. The first one, we have been seeing mobile services revenues growth slowing down a little bit Quarter after quarter. My question is if you expect this trend to continue the Q2 this year, Especially because the Q2 last year was a very strong one, so very hard comps.

Speaker 8

So first question is when you expect to see growth Stabilizing or reaccelerating? And the second question, Anatel has just published a few weeks ago actually The annual quality survey, it seems that it seems still ranks 3rd. So my question is whether this is a point of concern for the company and if you have any Expectation in terms of timing to close the gap? Thank you very much.

Speaker 1

Yes, Daniel, let me get the So in terms of revenue dynamic, what you're saying, it's sort of correct. So if you look at the service revenue dynamics, there we go, So there is a slowdown. A lot of this is also related to the fact that Price movement, there are two main factors here. So there is the effect of our Oi customer base. As you probably know, we bought 40% of it.

Speaker 1

So there is some cancellation, which is Without revenues, let's put it this way, so there is no revenue impact in reclassification and customer cancellation, But there is also a leakage a net leakage of customers that happened throughout the migration process. I think that the intensity of this migration of leakage of revenues, it's slowing down as people who didn't want to With Tim already left. On the other side, you have the our let's put it this way, organic dynamics, which is positive and in line with previous trends. And so today, when you look at, for example, the 21.1%, in the next quarter is going to be lower because we won't have OE NET and so we'll have just a month of OE NET. So you will go down on a Sort of organic performance and then moving from the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter, it's just going to be organic.

Speaker 1

So you will see Revenue deceleration because we're going to lose the inorganic drive that we had On the last quarters. So the guidance that we are going is that we're giving is that we're going to grow above inflation. So this is a big change versus previous years when as a sector we couldn't grow above inflation. So our expectation is to grow above inflation and this will result In a high single digit growth this year. So it's correct that you're going to see revenue slowdown in next quarter, but it's more of the fact that We're going to lose a bit of the inorganic on a year on year basis.

Speaker 1

And you will see the real performance of the new organic team That is going to be in our expectation above inflation. Is that clear, Daniela? As did I make some?

Speaker 8

Yes. Totally clear. Totally clear.

Speaker 1

Okay. So the next quarter is going to be good for this because you're going to have a pretty good sense in terms of What is organic and what was the OI element of it? When it comes to the Annatel survey, I would say the following. I see this as a big opportunity on our side. So it's not an element of concern, but it's a big opportunity.

Speaker 1

It's a matter of fact that we are third. And if you look at the difference between us and our competitors, in prepaid, it's almost Sort of very small, it's a bit higher in postpaid. And that's exactly where we want to improve our position. So There are a number of initiatives within the company to address customer experience. So this is A key element of our strategic plans and a key area where we are putting a lot of efforts.

Speaker 1

So When you look at the two main elements are generally the customer care quality and the network quality. And we got plans on both sides to improve our relative positioning, especially in the high value customers. And if you look at the progress that we are having at Annatel, for example, if you look at Annatel Complaints April, A little already public, we went 50% down year on year. If you look at our resolubility Index at Proconce, we have the best performance among our operators. At a certain point, this will translate In customer experience, so I would say that we have already a lot of hard elements with us.

Speaker 1

Now this will translate in customers' perspective as well. So this is an opportunity where we can close the gap with our competitors. So it's not an element of concern, but it's more of an opportunity.

Speaker 8

Perfect, Alberto. Thank you very much.

Operator

The next question comes from Philippe Chang with Santander.

Speaker 9

Hi. Thank you very much Thank you for taking my questions. I have 2 on my side. The first question is related to dividends. If you could provide us an update For the distribution in 2023, it seems like you're on track to generate a lot of cash Right.

Speaker 9

In 2023, probably at a much faster pace than the SEK2.3 billion dividend guidance for this year. So just wanted to understand if there is room, right, for potential upside here in terms of the distribution. So this would be my first question. And my second question is related to Ultra Broadband. If you could provide us an update how the partnership with VITAO has been evolving, If there is, in your view, a significant upside risk here regarding OSHA broadband growth for the upcoming years.

Speaker 9

Thank you very much.

Speaker 2

Hi, Felipe. I confirm we are on track in our dividends [SPEAKER UNIDENTIFIED COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE:] And we still with the 2.3 that we 2.2 that we sorry, we Putting our guidance for now, we had no further updated in this Information. And

Speaker 1

Felipe, for the broadband, as we say, If you look at the competitive environment, it's tough. So there is a lot of competition in all key markets. And so what we are aiming in terms of our broadband Pension is to grow maintaining our let's say, with coherence between volume and value. And this translates in a Growth speed, which is in line with what we are looking at today, which is high single digit, we're probably going to accelerate a bit Versus towards the year as the effect of increased net additions, but they're always looking It's a good balance between growth in terms of volume and value. So we are very careful not to dilute our ARPU.

Speaker 1

We've been an We're growing for 17 quarters now. We've got the highest FTTH ARPU in the market. And so we are happy at this point in time With the speed of our growth in broadband, and it's so basically, that's this balance that we are striking Every quarter.

Operator

The next question comes from Carlos de Queta with BTG Pactual.

Speaker 10

Hi, good morning Alberto and team. Thank you very much for the call. I will my question is really a follow-up question on a few Questions that were addressed on the Neutron on exploring Vital's Neutron network to grow the fiber business. I was just wondering if you can give us some more color on how the project is performing in the South And what is the next step? I mean, if you're going to explore the agreement in the south of the country where Chine has a very strong brand And maybe then move to other regions.

Speaker 10

How you were seeing the project moving and how it is performing today, please?

Speaker 1

Okay, Kadu. So the pilot in the South is proceeding well. So If you look at the net additions in those regions, you will see that we moved up quite faster versus our competitors. So the expansion that we are having in the Southeast, the pilot so far is good. What are the elements that we still need to prove?

Speaker 1

That generally speaking, when you enter a new area, it's especially in an area that we selected because we got a strong brand, A lot of credibility. It's quite positive in terms of net addition because you don't have churn. So you'll have gross addition without the churn impact. So what we are really looking down there and it takes some time to get the final conclusion if It's positive or not positive. So far it's positive in terms of net.

Speaker 1

I think we got the leadership in Curitiba in February already. The point is that we need to look at the quality of these acquisitions. And so that's the reason we need another couple of months to wrap it up In terms of finally positive, because that's quite an important aspect of the Value balance, so putting inside customers that stay with us without impacting churn or our collection rates. And this process takes a few months because people enter and then you receive the first bill after a few months and then the time to pay. And so far it's good.

Speaker 1

We still need some time to look at this other aspect, which is related to the quality of the acquisition. The response from the market has been quite positive in terms of gross addition sales. This translate in a good net performance And we just need to check the quality of these gross additions. So, so far good. And from there, when we finalize this, we're going to disclose the next step.

Operator

Without any more questions from analysts, we will now start the public Q and A session from the webcast platform and the questions will be read. Please, Mr. Vicente, you may proceed.

Speaker 5

Good morning, everyone. So the first question comes from Tristan. Tristan from Gamco, it's a buy side. So his question is, how big is of an opportunity is agro coverage? What is the total amount of farmland to cover?

Speaker 5

Will satellite coverage be needed to supplement? Roberto, please.

Speaker 1

The opportunity is quite huge in terms of coverage because today we basically cover 14 point 4,000,000 hectares and this accounts for something like 20% of that specific Big pharmas that we are aiming at. So we just cover 20% of the addressable market. And so the opportunity in terms of coverage is The satellite can certainly be a complementary technology To provide the coverage in those areas, it depends a lot on technical requirements for the customers. So to give you an example, we use our self satellite as back calling in some of our solutions. But it depends on the requirements especially in terms of latency of our customer base.

Speaker 1

So if they want a Good responsiveness, then satellite doesn't work, at least just stationary satellite. If they look for something where latency can be allowed for, then it works. But I think that given the nature of Brazil as a continental market, there is opportunity for mobile and for satellite as complementary Technology. Just a recap on the business model on our side. We make money by not selling, by buying the infrastructure for our customers.

Speaker 1

So our customer pay for it plus a markup And then we monetize the services in terms of connectivity and solutions on top of it. There is also an ESG Implication because generally when we provide this coverage, we provide digital we provide coverage to a lot of people. They live there, work in the farms. So if you look at our current coverage of 14,400,000 hectares, we have more than 1,000,000 Customers living in those areas, they didn't have access to telecommunication services and when we go there, we get Let's put it away, some consumer, some incremental consumer revenues from those customers as well besides providing connectivities For them and including them digitally.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Alberto. Now we'll move to the next question that comes from Michael Hodel, Analyst from Morningstar, his question is, can you comment on consolidation opportunities in the broadband and fiber infrastructure market?

Speaker 1

So the when you look at the At Brazil, and you look at a number of operators there, you certainly see a lot of Consolidation opportunities, because there are too many players, generally where there are a couple of them. So when we look at this, you see that you got a lot of ISP. And so the first wave That is already happening is among themselves. So there are larger ASP buying a smaller ASP. I would say that I would envisage a way where ISP will consolidate among themselves.

Speaker 1

That would be a 1st wave of consolidation. And then there would be a second wave of consolidation where big players will potentially or possibly or eventually consolidate ISP. Some of them are probably be part of this process, some of them are going to be out of the market. And The same consolidation process may happen also on the infrastructure on the neutral networks. As you know, there are several neutral networks there.

Speaker 1

So ours, Vivos, Vital and doesn't make sense to overbuild or to have to Infrastructure there, so there might be some consolidation happening also at the neutral level, neutral network level.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Alberto. The next question comes from Fani Canomuri, analyst from HSBC. And his first question goes, can you talk About the net adds trends with regard to why TIM lost subscriber this quarter and when we can see an inflection point on the total net adds, I think Robert already comment on this, but if you have any additions to that, Robert, please?

Speaker 1

See, Fani, here is this Q1 was More difficult to read because of all the cleanup and the leakage of our customer base together with our performance, You will see an inflection point in the Q2. So in Q2, we should be able to have Much less effect of the Oi customer base and the performance will be more in line with our organic performance. On the TFF,

Speaker 5

let me make the second question because the audience hasn't seen that yet. Sorry Alberto. Fonseca second question is, is there any update on the TFF, which is the Maintenance fiscal payment that was suspended since COVID, do you expect the payments to be in a single installment or will it be a staggered? Andrea, please.

Speaker 2

Related to the payment of TFF, the payment was The discussion about this is in the court, a federal court and now is under analysts. We don't have any update about the date of the For payments.

Speaker 5

So thank you, Andrea. The next question comes from Sir, and his question is, how is going the installation process of the massive MIMO on TIM Antennas? In this question, I will ask the help of Leonard Capdevila, our CTO please.

Speaker 11

Good morning, Horacio. We consider the massive MIMO as an active technology for the 5 gs or means that 100 percentage of our 5 gs antennas Already include this technology, but we have to remember that we innovated and we anticipated the usage Of the massive MIMO on 4 gs. So we installed the massive MIMO on 4 gs. We started that almost 3 years ago And you can see a very difference in terms of capacity quality, we are now using this kind of technology. So again, in our 5 gs 100% And in 4 gs we are using massive MIMO in place that makes sense for the reason for capacity or quality.

Speaker 11

So it's going very well.

Speaker 5

Thank you, Leo. I think with this, we finish our questions and answers. So operator, please.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, without any more questions, I am returning to Mr. Alberto Quiceli for his final remarks. Please, Mr. Roberto, you may proceed.

Speaker 1

Thank you, everybody, for attending today's conference call. I want to thank again our management team and all our team listening our result this quarter. We are in track in terms of delivering what we promised to the market in terms of guidance, remembering growth of inflation above The growth of the top line above inflation, expanding EBITDA margin, increased CapEx efficiency and a plan to double our

Operator

Thus, we conclude the Q1 of 2023 conference call of TIMSA. For further information and details of the company, please access our website, team.com.br/ IR, you may disconnect from now on. Thank you once again.

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Earnings Conference Call
TIM Q1 2023
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