Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our business and our key performance indicators

The global economy recovered from the coronavirus crisis in 2021, however, economic development continues to be impacted by its aftermath. The coronavirus pandemic affected our business activities and financial performance indicators in several of our business areas, impacting on revenues and earnings. For example, temporary travel restrictions have resulted in lower roaming and visitor revenues in our operating segments, while our terminal equipment business felt the bite of temporary shop closures. At the same time, we recorded an increase in the volume of voice calls, both in mobile communications and in the fixed network, and higher demand for mobile data as a result of hybrid working.

Our non-financial performance indicators also revealed in the reporting year that the coronavirus pandemic had a formative effect on how we collaborate. We successfully built on our experience in recent months and put proactive measures in place that have been reflected in our employees’ outstanding performance and record levels of employee satisfaction (engagement score). Our customer numbers profited in the reporting year from the re-opening of shops after the imposition of coronavirus-induced temporary closures both in the previous year and in early 2021. This was reflected in the development of customer numbers in our operating segments.

Based on experience so far, the coronavirus pandemic is expected to only impact our business to a limited extent going forward.