Telecom Italia management hailed a stabilisation in group revenue trends during Q3, noting a return to year-on-year growth for the second quarter in a row, though much of the gains came from its Brazilian operation rather than domestic.

In a statement, operator chiefs highlighted its domestic performance and developments in its TIM Brasil business as being in line with its predictions for the full-year. It is focusing on value rather than volume in its home market, with the Brazilian unit mostly concerned with integrating assets acquired from rival Oi along with bolstering its fixed-line business.

Telecom Italia noted it continued to slow the rate of EBITDA decline during Q3 even in the face of non-recurring items which boosted the figure in the comparable period of 2021.

It also highlighted progress reining-in domestic costs, slashing around €270 million from its outlay in the nine-months to end-September, “around 90 per cent of the target set for 2022”.

Telecom Italia also kept a keen eye on the “risk linked to the growth of energy costs”, with measures already undertaken to continue into 2023.

Domestic revenue fell from €3.1 billion in Q3 2021 to €2.9 billion in the recent period, though TIM Brasil’s metric grew from €731 million to €1.1 billion, delivering a 4.6 per cent rise in the group figure to €4 billion.

But the operator fell to a net loss attributable to owners of the parent of €2.2 billion from a €139 million profit in Q3 2021.