Net revenue increased 6 percent in the second quarter to EUR 18.89 billion. Sales rose 12.7 percent in the US to EUR 9.24 billion on continued strong customer growth, and revenues were up 0.6 percent in Germany to EUR 5.37 billion. In the rest of Europe, revenue grew 2.4 percent to EUR 2.86 billion, helped by currency effects.
Telekom's net profit was up 40.7 percent to EUR 874 million and increased 13.8 percent on an adjusted basis. The forecast for annual free cash flow remains at EUR 5.5 billion, after an 18.1 percent increase in the first half of the year to EUR 2.53 billion.
Deutsche Telekom attributed the growth to record investments driving customer and sales growth. The group invested EUR 2.99 billion in the second quarter, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier. Including payments for mobile spectrum, the figure rises to EUR 10.24 billion, of which 7.2 billion spent by T-Mobile US to acquire spectrum.
In a conference call on the results, CFO Thomas Dannenfeldt declined to comment on recent speculation of a merger in the US mobile market. While the company already said at its Q1 report that it expects M&A talk in the US market, Dannenfeldt said there was enough speculation in the market at the moment without DT commenting further.
