German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom said today its net loss widened in the first three months of the current year, largely as a result of write-downs against a number of newly consolidated companies.
However, underlying profit, as measured by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), increased thanks to the strong performance of its mobile phone business, Deutsche Telekom said in a statement.
The group said its net loss widened to € 1.8 billion in the period from January to March from a loss of €358 million a year earlier.
Deutsche Telekom said that its mobile phone arm, T-Mobile, and the Internet arm, T-Online, booked the strongest sales growth, while sales in the fixed line unit, T-Com, stagnated.
T-Mobile reported a 66-per cent increase in sales to € 4.465 billion and TOnline's sales were up 18 per cent at € 427 million €s, while T-Com's sales were steady at €7.44 billion.
Separately, a new opinion poll suggested that chairman Mr Ron Sommer, who has come under heavy fire in recent weeks for the disastrous performance of Deutsche Telekom shares, has little support among private investors.
A poll carried out by Inra on behalf of the investors weekly Focus Moneyshowed that 44 per cent of Germans want Mr Sommer to step down and only 25 per cent said they had confidence in him.
AFP