Holding & Services Segment

Business development in the Holding & Services Segment

Sales revenues in the Holding & Services Segment in the reporting period were EUR 97.2 million (previous year: EUR 97.4 million).

The EBIT of the Holding & Services Segment increased from EUR 2.5 million in the previous year to EUR 47.5 million in the first half of 2021/2022. The positive development of the Holding & Services Segment's operating result in the reporting period primarily results from the measurement of the share in BBOÖ Breitband Oberösterreich GmbH in the amount of EUR 37.0 million and higher earnings contributions from entities accounted for using the equity method. Beyond this, an impairment reversal of EUR 3.5 million was recorded for Wels Strom GmbH, which is consolidated using the equity method. The Energie AG's service companies allocated to the Holding & Services Segment remained largely stable.

Bundling of broadband activities in Upper Austria

The COVID-19 pandemic also shaped the first half of the 2021/2022 fiscal year and – like last autumn – saw an increase in home office work and home schooling for the Upper Austrian population. The resulting high demand for high-speed internet was in particular reflected in the use of broadband networks. Fast and reliable data connections are increasingly becoming a success factor for communities and entire regions; this explains why network expansion based on future-proof and durable fibre-optic technology also remains a key issue for federal and state governments.

This bolsters Energie AG's strategy of continuing to invest in the expansion of the fibre-optic small customer segment (fibre-to-the-home (FTTH)), which Energie AG has been pursuing for years. To continue to promote the best possible growth in this sector, and create better economic conditions for fibre-optic expansion in Upper Austria with the greatest possible coverage, despite the high degree of urban sprawl and the relating building costs, Telekom GmbH’s FTTH operational unit was merged with Fiber Service OÖ GmbH, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Province of Upper Austria. In the course of this bundling, the Telekom GmbH's FTTH sector was spun off to BBOÖ Breitband Oberösterreich GmbH. For further details see the section Changes under corporate law.

Length of fibre-optic network

in km

The fibre-optic backbone and the business customer sector remain with Telekom GmbH. In the FTTH sector, the company will be focusing in future on providing the layer 2 technology and on backbone data transport for the new joint venture. The FTTH fibre-optic network, part of the spun-off FTTH operational unit, was transferred to Breitband Oberösterreich Infrastruktur GmbH. As of 31 March 2022, the length of the fibre-optic network remaining in the Group in the backbone and business areas was 5,700 km (previous year: 6,834 km). The difference compared with the previous year's figure is mainly due to this spin-off; without adjustment, the length of the intra-Group fibre-optic network would have been 7,253 km as of 31 March 2022.

However, the demand for high-speed data transfer is not only driving growth in terms of Energie AG's fibre-optic customers but also among other providers using different technologies (especially in the mobile communications sector). Telekom GmbH acts as a wholesale partner for these providers, connecting, for example, additional mobile transmitter sites or third-party provider customers to its own fibre-optic network to further increase capacity utilisation and generated value.

Following the completion of the mass rollout of smart meters, the metering sector was merged with the affiliated Netz OÖ GmbH at the start of the 2021/2022 fiscal year.