I am joined today by Tibor Rékasi, our CEO, and André Lenz, our CFO, who will run through key developments during the third quarter and then answer any questions you may have. Just so you are aware, we are recording this session for internal use. By taking part, you consent to being recorded. Throughout the presentation, your lines will remain muted. Once we commence the Q&A session, you will be able to ask a question using the raise hand function.
Before we get started, just a quick note about the disclaimer on page two. This presentation includes forward-looking statements about future events and financial results, which come with some risks and uncertainties. I now hand over to Tibor to start the presentation.
Thank you, Dia. Good morning, everyone. Turning to slide three, let me start with the strategic progress we made this quarter and how it supports our performance today by preparing us for the years ahead. Our networks remain central to that progress. We continued our fiber rollout, completing more than half of our annual target of 300,000 new access points by the end of September. That takes our fiber reach to over 3.3 million access points and our total gigabit reach to more than 4.3 million.
We are also seeing customers make the move to fiber. It now connects 65% of our broadband users, with 27% on cable and just 8% still on copper. The investment is translating into a better-connected customer base. And network quality continues to stand out.
Ookla's latest independent speed test measurements once again named our Hungarian fixed network both the fastest and the best fixed network in Hungary. We made further progress in mobile too. Our 5G network now covers more than 95% of the population. We also completed the nationwide rollout of 5G standalone and concluded handset and network compatibility testing, and we expect to launch commercially early next year with offers designed around customers and applications that can benefit most from this technology. These capabilities underpin our commercial performance.
Our customer base continued to grow across both fixed and mobile services. As data demand rises, our ability to deliver reliable connectivity across both networks remain an important competitive advantage. Our refreshed portfolio is also encouraging customers to take more services and move to higher-value packages. The principle is straightforward. Customers can qualify for higher discounts as their spending increases. That is supporting higher transaction volumes and favorable ARPU trends.
There is a mix effect worth highlighting here. Bringing fixed and mobile discounts into a common structure shifts some of the discount allocation between services. This puts some downward pressure on fixed while increasing mobile ARPU levels compared to the previous schemes. To strengthen customer satisfaction in an increasingly competitive environment, we also introduced promotions and new offers tailored to what matters most to our customers.
These include additional data allowances and subscription offers for the holiday season. In prepaid, we launched an innovative offer aimed primarily at children and teenagers, with a monthly spending amount set in advance to help families manage costs. Demand has been particularly strong, helping reduce the decline in prepaid customers during the quarter.
Turning to financial resilience, we implemented the scheduled fee adjustment in July, which supported our third-quarter performance. Looking further ahead, we have launched a multi-year operational transformation. We are starting from a strong position, and the aim is to sustain that success as customer expectations and technology evolve. We need to respond faster to changing customer needs, put AI to work where it can improve service and productivity, and maintain tight cost discipline.
Our first step has been to reorganize retail customer service to accelerate decisions and processes, leverage new revenue opportunities, and use consumer data to tailor our services and offers more effectively. Together, these changes will help us deepen customer relationship and reinforce our readiness for the future by building on the efficiency and operational strengths we already have.
Turning to slide four, our mobile business continued to perform well, supported by customer growth and higher spending per customer. We added 21,000 postpaid customers during the quarter. Strong retail growth more than offset a smaller drag from subscriber losses associated with a public sector client. Prepaid customer losses also eased, helped in part by the new proposition I mentioned earlier. Machine-to-machine SIMs continued to grow, driven by smart meter installations. Together with developments in previous quarters, these trends brought our total SIM base to 1% above last year's level.
Alongside customer growth, we delivered robust ARPU expansion, further supporting mobile service revenue. Three factors contributed to this growth: rising data usage, the performance of our refreshed portfolio, and the July fee adjustment. Data consumption increased by close to 25% year-on-year in both prepaid and postpaid. That sustained demand continued to support upgrades to higher-value packages and remains an important driver of underlying ARPU growth.
Our modular portfolio and the enhanced discount scheme are also delivering ARPU gains ahead of our initial expectations. Around a fifth of our retail customers have now moved to the new portfolio, and the increase in their monthly spending is making a meaningful contribution to overall ARPU growth. The July fee adjustment provided an additional boost. The 4.4% increase applied to subscription fees for plans available before March 2026, covering approximately 80% of the customer base. It accounted for roughly half of the ARPU increase.
Turning to slide five, our fixed business delivered improving performance, supported by continued fiber uptake and the fee adjustment. We are attracting new broadband customers by also moving existing customers from copper to fiber technology. Fiber penetration now stands at 38%, even as we continue to expand the network. That demonstrates demand for the infrastructure we are building and supports the case for further investment.
In parallel to the shift towards the fiber network, customers are also choosing higher-speed packages, contributing to underlying broadband ARPU growth. Together with the fee adjustment, this drove a year-on-year ARPU increase of more than 4%. Our TV business maintained positive momentum too. We continue to grow our customer base in a contracting market, supported by attractive offers and a positive customer experience. TV ARPU also increased as the fee adjustment more than offset the higher discounts I mentioned earlier.
In fixed voice, the customer base continued to decline, although at a more moderate pace than in the previous quarter. The fee adjustment also helped moderate the decline in ARPU. However, with usage falling across customer segments, we expect the downward trend to continue. We aim to offset part of that pressure through additional revenue from add-on services in our new portfolios.
With that, I will now hand over to André to take you through our financial performance and our outlook for the rest of the year.
Thank you, Tibor, and good morning from me too. Turning to slide six, group revenue grew strongly year-on-year, with contributions from services, equipment sales, and IT. The commercial progress Tibor outlined earlier was a key driver. In Hungary, mobile service revenue rose by 6.5%, while fixed service revenue increased by 5%. In North Macedonia, unfavorable currency translation pushed reported service revenue below last year's levels in forint terms. Across the group, service revenue nevertheless increased by 5.2% year-on-year. This positive development was now coupled with favorable year-on-year changes in other revenue categories, in line with our anticipations.
Equipment sales contributed to growth as we recorded more customer transactions and higher average handset prices in line with broader market trends. Handset export revenue no longer weighed on our year-on-year comparison, as activity was already subdued in the same period last year. IT revenue increased strongly despite softer market conditions and some differences in project timing compared to 2025. The main contributor was a large multi-phase project for a Hungarian financial institution. We completed the asset delivery phase during the third quarter, making a significant contribution to revenue.
Turning to slide seven, reported EBITDA AL increased by 6.6% as growth in gross profit more than offset higher indirect costs across the group. Telecommunications service revenue growth was the main driver of gross profit. This was partly offset by a lower IT margin, reflecting a greater share of low-margin projects in the quarter. Higher installment sales also increased bad debt expense. Importantly, this reflected sales activity, while customer payment behavior and collection trends remained favorable.
Employee costs were the main source of indirect cost growth, rising by 7.2% or HUF 1.7 billion year-on-year. This reflected the 4.5% wage increase implemented in Hungary in March and an 8% increase in North Macedonia in April. Differences in the timing of costs also contributed, as the prior year quarter benefited from a more favorable seasonal pattern. We also faced higher subcontractor prices, driven largely by continued wage inflation. Ongoing efficiency measures largely offset that pressure, helping to keep the overall increase in indirect costs modest.
Turning to slide eight, reported net income rose by 7.5% year-on-year, while adjusted net income increased by 11.5%. The difference reflects currency movements. The forint strengthened in the third quarter of 2025, but weakened in the same period this year. This resulted in unrealized foreign exchange gains in the prior year quarter and losses this year, which are excluded from adjusted net income. High EBITDA AL drove the increase in adjusted net income, partly offset by higher depreciation and amortization. D&A increased mainly because we shortened the useful lives of certain network assets. These included 2G assets following the transfer of traffic to Yettel's network, and copper assets retired in areas where customers have fully migrated to fiber.
With regards to financial results, on an adjusted basis, we recorded a HUF 0.4 billion improvement, thanks to lower realized losses on financial instruments compared to a year earlier. As for the reported figures, we recorded a year-on-year HUF 1.6 billion deterioration because of the currency effects I mentioned. Income tax was broadly unchanged year- on- year. Profits at our North Macedonian subsidiary declined moderately in forint terms due to cost pressures.
Now turning to slide nine, I'll take you through our capital expenditure and free cash flow performance for the first nine months, which gives us a clearer view of the underlying trends than a single quarter. Starting with CapEx, investment levels increased in line with our strategic priorities. We stepped up fiber deployment and mobile network investment, including the expansion of 5G coverage. We also continued investing in data centers and transport networks to support growing data traffic. These increases were partly offset by lower TV content capitalization in North Macedonia and the absence of the one-off network retirement obligation recognized in Hungary last year.
Free cash flow was HUF 34.1 billion lower year- on- year, despite the HUF 9.7 billion increase in EBITDA. This reflects a combination of different factors, including a higher investment, payment timing, and one-off items. CapEx payments increased by HUF 16.1 billion , with higher investment and the timing of payments contributing roughly equally. Income tax payments rose by HUF 8.2 billion, largely reflecting profit growth in previous years, as cash tax payments follow earnings with a delay. Higher working capital requirements reduced free cash flow by a further HUF 12.5 billion . Increased handset installment sales raised receivables, while the timing of vendor payments also resulted in higher cash outflows than in the first nine months of last year.
These changes were coupled with the absence of last year's one-off proceeds from the subsidiary sales, lower cash inflows from real estate disposals, and the cash outflow relating to the subsidiary acquisition. Together, these items represented a further HUF 10.1 billion year-on-year headwind. As a result, free cash flow for the nine months was HUF 145.7 billion , down 18.7% year- on- year. As usual, this excludes the HUF 550 million spectrum payment made in April for the renewal of our 2100 MHz license.
Turning to our final slide, we remain confident in delivering our 2026 guidance. Third quarter revenues strengthened compared to the first half, putting us on track for a low single-digit growth for the full year. Some contributions, particularly SI/IT, may be more modest in the fourth quarter, but we remain well-positioned to meet our target. For EBITDA AL, underlying momentum remains strong. We expect growth to accelerate further in the fourth quarter, supported by continued gross profit growth, some margin improvement from third quarter levels, and more favorable IDC trends.
Adjusted net income should benefit from higher EBITDA and lower financial expenses, more than offsetting the increase in income tax associated with higher profits. Proposed changes to statutory corporate tax rates could also increase deferred tax liabilities in the fourth quarter, although we do not expect a significant impact from these on adjusted net income.
Finally, while free cash flow excluding spectrum was down HUF 34 billion in the nine months, part of the decline reflects temporary factors. With faster EBITDA growth and an expected partial reversal of the working capital outflow, we continue to expect free cash flow, excluding spectrum, of at least HUF 200 billion in 2026. With that, let me hand back to Dia, who will coordinate the Q&A.
Thank you very much, André. We are now open the floor for questions, so please use the raise hand function if you would like to ask a question. When it's your turn, we'll enable your microphone so you can unmute your line. Christian, you can- Just a second. Try to unmute yourself and raise your question. Thank you.
Good morning. Thank you for the presentation and congrats for the results. I know it's quite early to share your thoughts on the 2027 result expectations, but could you give us some indication on the profitability that you foresee currently, given the increased corporate tax levels especially? Thank you.
Good morning, Christian. Let me share my view on what we have heard from the administration with regards to the budget and also the tax that is now in parliamentary discussion. I think the most important topic is how our EBITDA is going to be affected by this. From what we see right now, we assume the effect on our EBITDA to be rather minor, because all of the tax that are in discussion, so the retail tax, but also banking fees, the rehabilitation contribution, those will affect our EBITDA, but the effect is, in our eyes, rather minor.
Now, when it comes to the corporate income tax, this step up from 9% to 15% sounds huge, and in percentage terms, it is. But as a matter of fact, you have to factor in that the effective tax rate increase, due to the fact that we will be able to offset parts of this with paid local business taxes, will shrink this effect on our corporate income tax. All in all, we think that this leads to the fact that also this corporate income tax increase will result in a lower impact on our 2027 financials.
Bojan, you can unmute yourself and raise your questions.
Thank you. Good morning, all. Maybe one by one, I have actually three. The first one is on the 5G standalone. Could you please give us a little bit of the information, where do you stand right now in terms of coverage, and what's your target for 2027? Besides, which commercial moment drives your investment in the 5G standalone?
Hi, Tibor is here. So, what we have announced this year is full country coverage, and commercially, we will launch next year, and we will test the market, to be honest with you, and also phase by phase, looking forward to find the right business model also on the consumers' side. On the businesses, on the large businesses side, obviously, there are some unique use cases which might be very much dependent on certain vertical solutions or the implementation of those. Generally, these are the two main trends which are helping to monetize 5G standalone. Again, in terms of the details of our future portfolio elements, I would not disclose anything yet.
All right, thank you. Understood. Next one is on the penetration of the fiber network. You said around 34%, and before that you said that currently you have 6% of the customers on the copper, if I got it right, and 23% on the cable, right? Where do you see from where the future penetration will come actually on the fiber? Which customers who would move? I mean, there is not much to move from the copper, and presumably cable are also still good. What is going to drive the penetration of the fiber network going forward?
Tibor again. Just get the numbers right. Basically, total base, 65% of our broadband users are connected with gigabit-capable networks, if I am not mistaken, and if I am reading it right, 27% on cable and only 8% still on copper. Actually, as I also mentioned in the overall presentation, we are still building. Definitely for the next couple of years, building our new fiber networks, also covering new areas, but also overbuilding some of our copper territories, will still give us opportunity to increase the fiber base as going forward.
Obviously, there will be time coming when we will cover the whole country with gigabit-capable networks, let me put it like this. We still believe that the overall 38% of penetration, what we are currently showing in terms of fiber networks, is giving us quite some opportunity to grow, not only in terms of covering new households, but also in terms of increasing our penetration over the fiber networks. We are looking into this. We are really planning forward on this. This is basically will mean that we will. Our plan is to grow our ARPU with the result of in our fiber penetration, apart from the copper ARPU.
Thank you, Tibor. Understood for the numbers. Apologies for this. The last one is on EBITDA and tax impact. For André, could you please just clarify a little bit how will that impact, even minorly, the EBITDA, the proposed changes?
I mean, I don't want to go into details and numbers specifically because this is, I mean, it's still in discussion and we are also need to make up our minds on how this exactly will affect us. But from what we see, ballpark figures, and from the nature of the taxes, we see that most probably we will see some impact on the indirect cost side with that. But there are also some minor parts affecting also the direct costs, especially here, the retail tax is to be named as one particular aspect of it.
Everything else with regards to the tax changes will mostly affect the corporate income tax and will be sitting below the EBITDA. That is practically what I can share with you right now, as we are still progressing and we are really waiting to see what the enacted tax legislation will look like in detail, and then we will combine that also with our forward-looking plans regarding our financials.
Thank you. Understood. That's all from my side. Have a nice day.
Good morning, Ollie. You can unmute yourself and raise your questions. I hear you. However, I see you unmuted yourself.
Hi, sorry.
Now it's okay. Perfect.
Thank you for that. Great. Sorry. Thank you for taking the question. CapEx taxes, is there any view that it could impact your dividend policy, both, I guess, on the underlying base and an increased leverage to do that? Secondly-
Sorry to interrupt.
equipment sales, is there anything you can say in terms of how that's impact?
Sorry, now we barely heard you. Can you repeat your questions? First, unmute yourself, and then please, can we ask you repeat your questions because we barely heard you.
Sure. Hopefully, you can hear me, and if not, I will email my question in. But basically-
Nice-
any update to you-
Nice, perfect.
I will email the question across.
Good morning, Harry. You can unmute yourself and raise your questions.
Can you hear me okay? Thanks. I have two questions, please. First is just looking at ARPU, and isolating the mobile ARPU, I think it was up 5.6%. This is for Hungary. Could you break that down into, you know, how much comes from the tariff increase in the middle of the year? How much would come from conversion to, you know, customer conversion to the new pricing packages? And then how much would be coming from mix?
This year. Basically, a bit less than half is generated by the fee adjustment, and the other half, or more than half, is basically generated by the increased data demand and the new portfolio effect.
Okay. And then as we think about next year, what would be the right sort of level of ARPU, given that some of that will translate into the first half of 2027? Should we expect a kind of moderated increase next year?
Let me take it one by one. Basically, there is going to be, of course, a little rollover effect of this year's fee adjustment next year as well. However, how it is going to specifically affect next year, for example, Q1 ARPU, I am not able to comment yet. We will see that as we are moving forward. Generally, this is what we can tell you now. We are focusing on finishing this year, and we will come back to next year early in 2027.
Okay, thanks. The second question is just related to EBITDA. Just to get to your mid-single-digit growth, that implies some acceleration in the fourth quarter. I understand that you had equipment sales recovery in the third quarter, which would have negatively impacted margins. Can you just help me understand what we should expect? Like, what in fourth quarter will kind of bridge that gap between where you are now, I think, which is like 3% versus mid-single digit?
André here. Look, I think to some extent, if you have followed our earnings calls throughout the last quarters, you will probably have noticed that this Q3 was special in some regards when it comes to seasonality. Also, 2025 was impacted to some extent. Let me shed a little bit of light on how we see Q4. Q4 will definitely benefit from this rather backloaded effect from the fee adjustment, which got effective on July 1st. That is number one. We do not expect that much of an SI/IT revenue uptake. Again, here, Q3 was characterized by this large deal that we were just mentioning, but it was a rather low-margin business. That will not affect our forward-looking expectation with regards to EBITDA.
What we see is a really strong development when it comes to our net margin, both originating from mobile and from fixed business. You can see that is fueled by two effects. One is that we are growing our customer bases, and secondly, that we also are able to increasingly grow our ARPU. That is the volume and the price effect in combination, despite the fact that we have now the fee adjustment also to be factored in.
The second biggest component, I guess, is when you look at the IDC development, we will see a much softer development in Q4 as compared to Q3 with our IDC development, and that will result in a very strong Q4, according to our guidance, to meet the numbers as we have them laid out in our guidance. That, all in all, leads to the fact that we remain super confident in delivering our numbers.
The last bit you said was the ICT?
IDC, the cost component.
Okay.
Costs in Q3 were impacted by some, let's say, unfavorable, also year-on-year comparison metrics. We expect a lot softer IDC development in Q4. That will result in an overall also a much stronger EBITDA in Q4.
Very clear. Thank you very much.
Since there is no further question, thank you all, we received your three questions. I will now read out loud, and then after that, we will give you answer. Capital allocation views, given higher CapEx taxes, and so on, and any views on the impact to your dividend policy, both on an underlying basis and share buyback. Would you maintain, sorry, to grow dividends and increase leverage to increase that? Equity finance sale trends, that's the first one. We can go step by step, and then I will read out loud the next two questions.
Yeah, let me take the first one. I mean, I understand this question to be targeted at our shareholder remuneration policy. Of course, I cannot comment on something that is still subject to finalizing our full-year financials, and secondly, also, which is also subject to our board discussion and decision. But, I mean, nothing what happened so far would indicate that we would change our shareholder remuneration policy going forward, because we feel that we have a shareholder remuneration policy in place that gives us enough flexibility to cope with situations that also cause some changes in our regulatory or tax environment.
Thank you, André . Second question is equipment sales related. Equipment sales trends and anything you can see in terms of retention or how that is impacting ARPU compared to the previous equipment cycles?
Yeah. I can also take that one. Look, let me start by pointing out one thing. Of course, customers staying with us and actively deciding to prolong their contracts with us usually goes with another cycle of equipment and thus equipment sales. But that also increases their loyalty towards us, which is important. I read this as a sign of people and our customers trust us. They believe in our excellence. They believe in our network superiority. They believe in our service quality. This is not only something from a financial point of view, but it is also very promising in everything we do in servicing Hungary and our customer base with the best possible service quality.
I do not know if I got everything that was connected to your questions, but okay, there is the ARPU part that is also connected to that. Look, we have upgraded our portfolio just recently. We see that as a tremendous success. A lot of customers are opting into this new portfolio. Obviously, this also contributes to a positive ARPU development going forward. And this is not only for acquisition, but this is also true for our retention going forward.
Thank you, André . The third question is SI/IT related. When is going forward after a good Q3 quarter and views on profitability? Thank you for all your questions.
Yes, Tibor here. Our Q3 results in SI/IT were strongly influenced by one big or several, but smaller. Sorry, let me restart. Big one-off projects which were generating some additional revenue in Q3. Generally, especially the enterprise market is relatively more volatile as compared to other markets. It really is influenced by single big deals. We do expect a long term that we see also some growth there. Again, as compared to the Q3 results, it was strongly influenced by big deals.
Thank you. No further questions. Let me thank you again for joining us today. Please note that a transcript of this call will be available on our website shortly. If you have any follow-up questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks. Oh, sorry. Harry, you raised your hand.
Sorry. Sorry. Bad timing for me to do that as you are concluding the call. Do you mind just helping me understand the working capital, the biggest impacts to working capital in the third quarter or the nine-month period? Because I just noticed it was quite adverse. Apologies.
Well, let me take this. Practically, to put it very simply, in line with a higher CapEx, also the CapEx out payment were significantly higher. That was one component. The other component was that in conjunction with the higher equipment sales, which are usually installments, also we have increased our equipment stocks, and that in combination drove this downward effect on the working capital, especially in this quarter.
That is clear. Thank you.
Thank you. With that, we concluded our call today. As I said, if you have any follow-up questions, do not hesitate to contact us. Have a nice day. Thank you.