Telefónica loses €4.3bn in 2025
February 24, 2026
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Telefónica has reported a net loss of €4.318 billion for 2025, as the Spanish telco absorbed the accounting impact of disposals in Latin America, asset writedowns and the cost of a large-scale redundancy programme in Spain.
The loss marks a sharp deterioration from the €49 million deficit recorded in 2024 and represents the company’s second-largest annual loss on record, surpassed only by 2002.
Excluding extraordinary items, net profit from continuing operations — businesses that remain within the group — would have reached €2.12 billion, down 19 per cent year on year.
The largest drag on 2025 results stemmed from the sale of subsidiaries in Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Uruguay, which generated an accounting loss of €2.26 billion. The disposals of Chile and Colombia were not booked in the 2025 accounts.
Restructuring costs, primarily linked to a redundancy scheme approved at the end of 2025 and implemented this year, amounted to €2.17 billion, reflecting the departure of 5,042 employees to date. In addition, asset impairments — including those related to Virgin Media O2 the UK joint venture with Libertad Global — resulted in further extraordinary charges of €2.08 billion.
Full-year reported EBITDA slipped 1.6 per cent to €11.91 billion, while adjusted EBITDA — excluding discontinued businesses — grew 2 per cent. Net debt declined by €337 million to €26.82 billion. Capital expenditure fell 7.2 per cent to €4.34 billion.
Spain delivered a notably strong performance, recording revenue growth for the first time since 2008. Sales rose 1.7 per cent to €13.01 billion, EBITDA increased 1.1 per cent to €4.69 billion and operating cash flow climbed 2.3 per cent to €2.52 billion. The business added 21,000 fixed broadband lines, 82,000 mobile contract customers and 51,000 pay-TV clients.
In Brazil, local-currency revenues rose 6.7 per cent, although a weaker real reduced reported euro revenues by 1.5 per cent. The group’s Brazilian unit closed the year with net profit of 6.168bn reais (€1.01bn), up 11.2 per cent.
By contrast, Virgin Media O2 in the UK widened its net losses to £1.61 billion (€1.852bn). In Germany, revenues declined 3.8 per cent and EBITDA fell 8.2 per cent.
“We delivered in 2025 and are prepared to continue doing so in 2026,” commented Marc Murtra, Telefónica president, describing the year’s losses as the necessary cost of transformation. He added that the company would maintain “iron financial discipline” as it completes its withdrawal from non-core Latin American markets, including Venezuela and Mexico, and sharpens its focus on Spain, Brazil, Germany and the UK.
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