Telefonica outlines strategy; expects €5 billion revenue by 2015

Telefonica Digital, the global business division of Spanish telecommunications major Telefonica, has announced that it  expects to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR)  of 20 per cent in revenues over the next three years to generate annual revenues of approximately €5 billion by 2015.

Unveiling its strategy in London for taking Teleonica beyond connectivity, the company said it will generate incremental revenues across areas ranging from mobile commerce and advertising through to machine-machine (M2M), eHealth, video and content, digital security, and cloud computing leveraging on Telefonica's core assets in terms of customer base, global reach, local distribution and existing technical expertise.

''Today we send out a clear message that our digital strategy is on track and delivering,'' said Mathew Key, chairman and CEO of Telefonica Digital.

''We have a clear vision for Telefonica of becoming a credible leader in a range of new services beyond connectivity and we have set in place the right partnerships with key players, as well as building our own capabilities, to help us achieve this,'' he added.

Telefonica Digital, created in September 2011, conducts research & development for the parent company. The company said it has secured global framework agreements with Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Research In Motion (RIM) to offer 'direct to bill' payments as a means of driving the monetisation of mobile content.

Telefonica believes that it can leverage the billing relationship it has with its mobile customers to increase sales of digital goods and services, particularly in Latin America where credit card penetration is low and 60 per cent of the population do not have bank accounts.