Deutsche Telekom reported continuing growth DSL subscribers and in net additions at T-Mobile USA and in Britain. The group’s overall Q1 revenue increased to EUR 14.8 billion, up 3.9% from a year earlier. EBITDA was EUR 4.9 billion compared with EUR 4.8 billion in 2005, an increase of EUR 0.1 billion or 1.4%.
Some highlights for the quarter:
- Overall, the Mobile Communications strategic business area increased revenue by 12.3 percent to EUR 7.6 billion compared with the first quarter of 2005. The number of mobile customers in the Group increased in the first quarter to 87.7 million. T-Mobile USA remains the strongest growth factor for the company, while T-Mobile Germany faces a tough competitive environment.
- In DSL in Q1, the number of broadband lines provided by T-Com in Germany and abroad increased by 735,000 to 9.2 million. In Germany, there were 643,000 net DSL adds for the quarter, compared with 660,000 net adds in Q4 2005.
- Despite this increase, total revenue of the Broadband/Fixed Network strategic business area came in 6.1 percent below the figure in the prior-year quarter mainly as a result of losses in call revenue and access lines in the first quarter of 2006.
- Total revenue of Broadband/Fixed Network was EUR 6.2 billion in the three months, compared to EUR 6.6 billion in the first quarter of 2005. Revenue in the Business Customers strategic business area also decreased to EUR 3.0 billion, 3.1 percent below the prior-year figure.
- Deutsche Telekom confirmed that it is on-track to launch its IPTV service by mid-year. VDSL upgrades have been completed at 12,000 aggregation points in ten cities. The company said it has signed agreements with a number of TV content providers. It also has suppliers on board for set-top boxes (Cisco) and software (Microsoft).
- Deutsche Telekom is also on-track to launch its “T-One” fixed-mobile-convergence service by mid-year. A trial with some 1,000 users will launch this month.
- T-Com Germany continues to be impacted by lower calling revenues.
- Guidance for the Group’s net revenue remains unchanged in the current year. On the back of the first-time consolidation of tele.ring, Deutsche Telekom now expects net revenue for the full year 2006 to be in the upper half of the range between 62.1 and 62.7 billion EURs.
“The Mobile Communications strategic business area remains the growth driver. We are on track overall with our performance in the first quarter, so we can confirm the guidance for the current and next year. We have made certain adjustments for 2006 at the level of strategic business area planning to reflect developments in our ongoing operations,” said Kai-Uwe Ricke, Chairman of the Board of Management.
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