Swisscom 2011 profit to fall 1.2bn Sfr on Fastweb

ZURICH: Swisscom's 2011 net profit will be 1.2 billion Swiss francs lower due to an impairment charge for its Italian unit Fastweb, the Swiss phone company said on Wednesday.

Swisscom, which invested 4.6 billion euros in its Fastweb buy four years ago, posted a net profit of 1.8 billon francs in 2010.

"The difficult economic situation and increasing interest rates have lead to reduced prospects for growth and higher cost of capital in Italy," Swisscom said in a statement.

Swisscom said as a result Fastweb's book value had been impaired, reducing its net income by 1.2 billion francs.

Copyright Reuters, 2011