Deutsche Telekom reports revenues of EUR 14.43 billion for the first quarter of 2012, down by 1.3 percent compared with the same quarter in 2011. The quarterly EBIT dropped by 4.6 percent to EUR 1.743 billion and the adjusted EBITDA amounted to EUR 4.48 billion down 0.1 percentage point year-on-year. This leads to an adjusted EDITDA margin of 31.0 percent, 0.4 percentage points higher than one year before. The cash capex was 2.3 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2011 with EUR 2.17 billion and the net debt decreased by 7.6 percent year-on-year to EUR 38.63 billion. The free cash flow for the first quarter increased by 5.7 percent year-on-year to EUR 1.12 billion. Adjusted net profit declined 17.1 percent to EUR 581 million in the first quarter and the reported net profit was impacted in the first quarter by special factors affecting EBITDA of EUR 525 million compared with EUR 182 million in the same period of 2011. EUR 464 million of this was attributable to the continuation of the early retirement scheme as part of the group's socially responsible restructuring measures. Corresponding exceptional expenses in the prior year were only incurred from the second quarter. This change in seasonal influences resulted in reported net profit of EUR 238 million in the first quarter of this year, down by more than 50% compared with the first quarter in 2011. CEO René Obermann said that the first quarter was very satisfying with the operator making significant progress in many areas as well as being able to confirm the guidance for the full year, which is an adjusted EBITDA of around EUR 18 billion and free cash flow of around EUR 6 billion.
The German operations were able to mimize the revenue decrease to 2.3 percent and the adjusted EBITD drop amounted to 2 percent, due to better figures for the wholesale fixed network business, while mobile service revenues did disappoint. T-Mobile USA performed well, particularly in terms of its profitability with revenue growing 2 percent and EBITDA increasing 12.9 percent. In US dollars, the revenues decreased by 2.3 percent and the EBITDA grew with 8 percent. The US operation is well on schedule for implementing the new LTE mobile standard and the comprehensive modernization of its network thanks to the completed transfer of spectrum from AT&T and preparations for refarming existing spectrum. Deutsche Telekom’s European business also continued to stabilize in the first three months of this year. Revenue declined 2.6 percent year-on-year to EUR 3.6 billion and the adjusted EBITDA decreased by 4.3 percent to EUR 1.2 billion. When adjusted for ex-change rate effects, however, particularly in Hungary and Poland, and the impact of regulation on mobile communications, revenue actually increased slightly.
The number of mobile contract customers grew by 3 percent and the total mobile customer base in Europe improved with 1.6 percent to 60.21 million. The broadband customer base grew 2.9 percent year-on-year to 4.61 million customers, unable to stop fixed network access declining by 6.9 percent to 10.34 million. The number of IPTV customers even grew by 18 percent. The trend toward increased smartphone use also continued unabated at the European national companies. Smartphones still accounted for 40 percent of devices sold one year ago, but this figure increased to 57 percent in the first three months of the current year. This boom was a major factor in the 11 percent increase in mobile data rates in Europe, a 14 percent increase when adjusted for exchange rate effects with the Netherlands and Austria responsible for more than half of this growth. Croatia performed best, with growth of over 30 percent when adjusted for exchange rate effects.
