Swiss telco Sunrise confirms outlook, seeing improving trends towards year-end (updated)

Sunrise Communications

19/08/2026 06:57

Recasts with comments on H2 outlook, adding CEO comments on price increases, cost-cutting details and analyst comment in paragraphs 1-3, 5, 7-8.
By Basile Day and Kira Britten
Aug 19 (Reuters) - Switzerland's second-largest telecom operator Sunrise Communications SUNN.S confirmed its full-year forecasts on Wednesday and said it expected performance to gradually improve in the second half of 2026, as its latest price hike takes effect.
Early customer response to the price increase, implemented on August 1, has been better than expected, CEO André Krause said on an investor call.
"This year's price increase is showing the smallest negative impact," he added in an interview with Reuters, pointing to lower churn, fewer customer complaints and cancellation requests than with previous hikes.
Sunrise's lease-adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDAaL, slid 3.8% to 244.4 million Swiss francs ($301.7 million) in the second quarter, broadly meeting market estimates, while revenue fell 2.6% to 712.9 million francs, slightly below a company-compiled analyst consensus.
The declines were caused by the different timings of the 2025 and 2026 price hikes, along with the cumulative impact of weaker subscriber growth in previous quarters, it said.
Sunrise booked a net increase of 21,000 mobile postpaid subscriptions and 3,000 new broadband internet subscriptions in the quarter, its highest net addition of internet customers in five quarters.
Brokerage Vontobel, commenting on the report in a research note, said the subscriber trends were “particularly encouraging".
Lower external costs, mostly in IT, reduced operating expenses in the quarter, while a nearly 7% cut in workforce implemented earlier this year was expected to drive further savings, company management said.
Sunrise confirmed its 2026 outlook for broadly stable revenue and adjusted EBITDAaL of around 1 billion francs.
($1 = 0.8100 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Basile Day and Kira Britten in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
((Kira.Britten@thomsonreuters.com; Basile.Day@thomsonreuters.com))