German telecoms operator Deutsche Telekom yesterday stood by its prediction of a strong 2016 after a third quarter boosted by its mobile phone business in the US.
The group said it had increased net profit more than 30% year-on-year to €1.1bn between July and September on revenues of €18.1bn — up almost 6.0%.
Setting aside one-off restructuring costs that sapped last year’s third quarter showed a more measured picture, with net profit remaining stable.
Underlying, or operating, profit grew by 7.2% in the third quarter, to €5.5bn.
“These figures show once again that we are on the right track,” CEO Tim Hoettges said in a statement.
Deutsche Telekom confirmed its forecast of growth in operating profit to around €21.2bn, an increase of more than 6.0% over 2015.
Released at the end of October, results for the group’s T-Mobile US division foreshadowed strong performance for the parent company.
After years as a money pit, the American subsidiary has turned into a powerful driver of Telekom’s performance, registering two million new subscribers in the third quarter and boosting revenue 17.8% year-on-year to $9.2bn.
In home market Germany, the former public monopoly provider has not achieved such success.
Landline phones continue to decline and the market in Europe’s largest economy is saturated with mobile phones.
In the third quarter, Telekom was able to limit the decline in its revenues to 0.8%, hitting €5.5bn, and managed to expand its mobile subscriber base slightly.
The group had more success with the buildout of its German fibre-optic network, which saw 7.8% growth in customer numbers between July and September.