AP Online
05-12-2005
Dateline: FRANKFURT, Germany
Deutsche Telekom AG said Thursday its first-quarter profit grew 60 percent, driven by growth in the United States and demand for its wireless and broadband products.
The Bonn-based company said it earned 1.01 billion euros ($1.29 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 632 million euros in the same quarter last year.
"We have every reason to be satisfied with the group's results," Chief Executive Kai-Uwe Ricke said.
Revenue rose to 14.37 billion euros ($18.4 billion) from 13.84 billion euros last year.
Sales were fueled by the company's wireless operations, T-Mobile, particularly in the United States, where the number of T-Mobile subscribers rose by 957,000 to reach 18.3 million.
"In mobile communications, we also saw a communication of fourth-quarter trends with a very strong U.S. performance," Chief Financial Officer Karl-Gerhard Eick said, adding that revenues for the unit were up 7.6 percent to 6.7 billion euros ($8.63 billion).
The company's high-speed Internet access also expanded, adding 600,000 subscribers for its DSL, or digital subscriber line, service in the quarter.
In Germany, "we saw explosive growth in broadband revenue," Eick said, adding that the number of T-DSL customers was up by nearly 2 million to 6.4 million.
The company reiterated its overall forecast for 2005 operating profit to be between 20.7 billion euros and 21 billion euros ($26.67 billion and $27.05 billion).
Ricke quashed any speculation that the company would step in and make a bid for Turk Telecom.
"I can be clear on this: we have no interest," he told a media conference call.
Bidding for the company is set to end later this month.
Shares of Deutsche Telekom were up 0.2 percent to 14.57 euros ($18.77) in morning trading in Frankfurt.
Deutsche Telekom is Europe's biggest telecommunications company and has 58 million land lines in Germany. Its T-Online unit has some 13 million customers across the continent.
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