Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones S.A. (Santiago Stock Exchange: ENTEL) reported unaudited second quarter results on August 3rd, 2026, with consolidated revenue of Ch$ 780,531 million against Ch$ 723,018 million a year earlier, an increase of 8.0%. Net income reached Ch$ 25,895 million, up 39.4% from Ch$ 18,570 million. The company reports in Chilean pesos under International Financial Reporting Standards and the local rules issued by the Comision para el Mercado Financiero.

The quarter’s average exchange rate was Ch$ 892.77 per United States dollar and Ch$ 262.1 per Peruvian sol, and average inflation in Chile measured by the annual variation of the Unidad de Fomento was 3.96%. Entel is registered with the Comision para el Mercado Financiero under RUT 92580000-7, with its domicile recorded at Avenida Costanera Sur Rio Mapocho 2760, Piso 22, Torre C, in Las Condes, Santiago.

Revenue growth came from handsets and from Peru

Chilean mobile and fixed revenue reached Ch$ 477,551 million, up 6.4%. Within that, mobile revenue rose 10.2% to Ch$ 342,578 million, split between service revenue of Ch$ 240,296 million, up 10.2%, and equipment revenue of Ch$ 102,282 million, up 10.4%. Fixed and information and communications technology revenue added 1.2% to Ch$ 120,850 million, while wholesale revenue and others fell 24.8% to Ch$ 14,123 million.

Peru contributed Ch$ 274,016 million, up 8.9%, with mobile service revenue up 7.0% to Ch$ 174,317 million and equipment revenue up 13.1% to Ch$ 88,572 million. Across the first half, consolidated revenue reached Ch$ 1,556,111 million against Ch$ 1,447,633 million, up 7.5%, and the Chilean handset line grew 16.9% while Chilean mobile service revenue grew 7.3%.

Operating costs reached Ch$ 711,872 million, up 7.0%, a full percentage point below revenue growth. Handset costs rose 11.7% to Ch$ 165.0 billion, rents and maintenance rose 13.0% to Ch$ 85.1 billion on fibre leasing to support connection growth, advertising and sales commissions rose 9.7% to Ch$ 60.8 billion on higher customer acquisition costs, and salaries rose 5.4% to Ch$ 86.1 billion on consumer price index readjustments.

EBITDA reached Ch$ 219,648 million, up 8.4%, with a margin of 28.1% against 28.0%. EBITDAaL, the measure reported after lease payments, reached Ch$ 172,951 million, up 8.9%, on a margin of 22.2%. Depreciation and amortisation advanced only 4.2% to Ch$ 150,989 million, so operating income reached Ch$ 68,660 million, up 18.9% from Ch$ 57,760 million.

The subscriber base shrank while postpaid grew

The mobile customer base finished the quarter at 20,253,164 subscribers, 0.5% lower year on year and essentially flat against the prior quarter. The composition changed sharply underneath that number. Postpaid reached 14,448,185 subscribers after 1,166,369 net additions over the year, an 8.8% gain, of which Chile contributed 396,408 and Peru 769,961. Prepaid fell to 5,804,979 after 1,264,486 disconnections over the year, with 343,055 of those in Chile and 921,431 in Peru.

Fixed connections tell a similar story of mix. Total fixed revenue generating units reached 759,710, up 11.1% year on year, while fibre connections covering internet, television and voice reached 704,662, up 23.4% with 133,683 net additions. Chile accounts for 687,914 of the fibre base, up 24.2%, and fibre internet alone reached 515,049 connections, up 25.7%. Fixed wireless fell 51.3% to 55,048 connections, a decline the company links partly to the exit of the wireless and satellite television base in Chile after that business was divested. Peru’s fibre base of 16,748 is small, with commercial rollout expected to begin in the last quarter of 2026 following an agreement with Wi-Net signed in December 2025.

Analysis: the earnings jump is a financing story, not an operating one

EBITDA grew 8.4% and net income grew 39.4%. The distance between those two numbers sits almost entirely below the operating line. Financial expenses fell to Ch$ 26,975 million from Ch$ 40,696 million, and across the half they fell to Ch$ 52,901 million from Ch$ 93,066 million, which the company attributes to the 2025 refinancing. Net financial debt to EBITDA stood at 1.67x, or 2.42x including the effect of lease accounting under IFRS 16, against 1.79x and 2.64x a year earlier, with gross financial debt down Ch$ 365.1 billion over the year.

The tax line affects the half year comparison. Income before taxes rose from Ch$ 6,930 million to Ch$ 63,611 million over six months, an increase the company describes as driven partly by the absence of currency hedging instruments that had previously neutralised the peso and dollar effect on tax related to investments abroad. Those hedges became unnecessary after a fourth quarter 2025 capital increase in Entel Internacional through the contribution of the shares of Entel Peru. Half year net income of Ch$ 53,657 million against Ch$ 41,571 million, up 29.1%, is the cleaner comparison.

On the operating side, the composition of growth deserves attention. Chilean mobile equipment revenue grew 16.9% over the half against 7.3% for mobile service revenue, and handset costs rose 11.7% in the quarter. Handset sales carry thin margins, so revenue growth weighted toward equipment converts into EBITDA at a lower rate than service growth does, which is one reason the EBITDA margin moved only 0.1 percentage points in the quarter despite an 8.0% revenue gain.

The subscriber disclosure is the part a reader would test next. A base that is 0.5% smaller year on year while postpaid adds 1,166,369 connections means the prepaid run-off is doing most of the work in the customer count, and prepaid users carry far lower average revenue. That mix shift raises average revenue per subscriber arithmetically, without an increase in the total subscriber count. Capital expenditure of Ch$ 217,285 million over the half, down 2.9% and equal to 14.0% of revenue against 15.5% a year earlier, was directed at 5G and 4G mobile networks in both countries and at fibre in Chile, so the fibre build that is driving fixed growth is being funded from a falling investment line.

Entel’s own corporate site reports a spectrum share in Chile of 27,6% and in Peru of 33,0% as at the close of 2025. Chile’s Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones collects sector statistics from operators under Resolucion No. 159/2006, which now runs to 16 annexes on a staggered delivery calendar, and publishes annual sector reports; the most recent covers 2025.