BERLIN, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Revenues of Deutsche Telekom increased by 2.3 percent year-on-year to 19.9 billion euros (21.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, the German telecommunications company announced on Thursday.
"Deutsche Telekom is an anchor of stability in a global crisis," said CEO Tim Hoettges, adding that "our networks are working reliably as digital lifelines for society."
Having remained "stable in the coronavirus crisis," Deutsche Telekom increased adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) AL by 10.2 percent year-on-year to 6.5 billion euros in Q1, while adjusted net profit grew by 8.5 percent to 1.3 billion euros.
Despite the global spread of the coronavirus and the "consequent restrictions imposed" in many countries since March, Deutsche Telekom achieved a "strong start to the 2020 financial year."
In the company's domestic market Germany, Deutsche Telekom achieved its "best result in two years" with 83,000 new broadband customers. In Q1, adjusted EBITDA AL increased by 2.7 percent year-on-year to about 2.2 billion euros, while revenues increased by 0.9 percent to 5.4 billion euros.
In Europe, adjusted earnings of Deutsche Telekom rose by 1.9 percent to almost one billion euros, while revenues grew by 0.4 percent year-on-year to 2.9 billion euros. In the United States, Deutsche Telekom recorded an increase in revenues, while adjusted EBITDA AL grew strongly by 18 percent to 3.2 billion euros.
Deutsche Telekom expects the pandemic to have a "limited impact" on its revenues. While revenues could decrease because of the closure of shops, lower roaming revenues and companies postponing or canceling information technology (IT) projects, the company's voice telephony revenues would be growing and the churn rate for mobile phone contracts falling.
"Taking the offsetting effects and measures into account," the impact on earnings of the COVID-19 crisis would likely be comparatively low. "Taking into account all foreseeable consequences of the pandemic," the company confirmed its outlook for the current financial year. Enditem
