Deutsche Telekom grows on both sides of the Atlantic

Deutsche Telekom can look back on the third quarter of the financial year with satisfaction. The company was able to increase its revenue and profit thanks to its strong US business. In Germany, Deutsche Telekom gained new customers in the fixed network and mobile communications, as the Group announced in Bonn on Thursday.

For the third quarter of 2024, Deutsche Telekom recorded a year-on-year increase in revenue of 3.4 percent to 28.5 billion euros; around three quarters of this was generated abroad. The operating result (EBIT) rose by 13.1 percent to 6.1 billion euros. Adjusted for special effects from financial investments, net profit grew by 3 percent to 2.3 billion euros.

"Growth momentum unbroken"

"The growth momentum is unbroken on both sides of the Atlantic," explained CFO Christian Illek according to the press release. "At the same time, we have managed to bring our debt back below our target level." Deutsche Telekom has promised its shareholders a dividend of 90 cents per share for the current financial year. The company is also planning to buy back up to 2 billion euros of its own shares in 2025.

In its German business, Telekom was able to increase its total revenue by 2.5 percent to 6.5 billion euros. As of September 30, the company had 66.9 million active SIM cards in the mobile network (+2.7 percent compared to the previous quarter), 26.2 million of which were contract customers. In the prepaid segment, SIM cards for the automotive industry were the main source of growth.

In the German fixed network, Telekom marketed 15.1 million broadband lines itself, of which 13.1 million are "fiber-based" (+4.2% compared to the previous year). In addition, there are 8.5 million lines sold by competitors, including 7.6 million fiber-based lines (+5%).

Telekom now classifies everything with VDSL/vectoring/FTTx as a "fiber optic connection" and thus has 13.1 million connections in its portfolio. For actual fiber optic connections, the footprint is much smaller with 1.3 million FTTH connections at the end of the quarter. Deutsche Telekom added 130,000 new lines in the quarter.

T-Mobile US gained 1.6 million new customers in the quarter. According to the press release, service revenues increased by 5.2 percent to 16.7 billion US dollars.

Sideswipes at the competition

Meanwhile, the television business is not growing as dynamically. The number of contract customers with Magenta TV only increased by 76,000 at a time when numerous cable customers are likely to be looking for alternatives on the market following the end of the service charge privilege. Cable giant Vodafone recently lost over 2 million TV customers.

Telekom also blames cable network operators for the slow growth in the TV segment. Vodafone should take stronger action against "black viewers" who no longer pay but still have an active TV connection, said CFO Illek on Thursday. These users would have no reason to opt for other products such as Magenta TV. "So of course we have an interest in this being switched off at the end of the day."

Vodafone did not want to give dpa an estimate of how many black screens there still are. Originally, Vodafone had around 8.5 million TV customers who were affected by the end of the service charge privilege. Of this customer group, only around four million have remained with Vodafone through other contractual arrangements.

(vbr)