Deutsche Telekom did better than expected in quarterly profit terms as improved earnings in the United States offset heavy investments in its German networks.
Second-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), excluding special items, rose to 4.43 billion euros.
That comes as its American offshoot – T-Mobile US – reported its first net profit in a year and raised its forecasts for subscriber growth there.
Deutsche Telekom now has a tough decision on whether to stay in the United States.
It had planned to sell T-Mobile US, but potential buyer Sprint has pulled out because competition regulators indicated they would not approve such a merger.
However there is interest from French telecoms firm Iliad – which trades as Free – and perhaps from the second largest US satellite operator Dish Network.
Iliad has made a low-ball offer for the business and the chairman of Dish has said it now makes sense to consider bidding for T-Mobile US, with Sprint out of the picture.
The German telecoms operator did not make any comments about the process in its earnings statement.
with Reuters
