German mobile service provider freenet has announced it generated revenues of EUR788.8 million (USD1.13 billion) in the three months ended 31 March 2011, down 1.8% compared to the EUR803.1 million reported twelve months previously. However, the group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased from EUR71.1 million in the first quarter of 2010 to EUR78.4 million a year later, while EBIT totaled EUR32.6 million in Q1 2011, up from EUR24.4 million twelve months previously. Net profit for the first three months of 2011 amounted to EUR26.0 million, compared to EUR20.8 million in the corresponding period in 2010. freenet expects recurring group EBITDA of EUR325 million and free cash flow of over EUR200 million for the financial year 2011. Commenting on the results, freenet’s CEO Christoph Vilanek said: ‘All of our key financials for the first three months of the year are within our internal plan for the quarter.’
freenet’s mobile communications segment accounted for EUR771.5 million of the firm’s total turnover in the first quarter of 2011, down from EUR782.8 million in Q1 2010 due to falling subscriber numbers, while EBITDA climbed from EUR69.6 million to EUR76.1 million over the same period. At 31 March 2011 the company reported a mobile customer base of 15.64 million, down from 17.15 million twelve months earlier, of which 7.65 million were pre-paid customers (compared to 8.5 million in Q1 2010), 5.94 million were contract users (6.84 million) and the remaining 2.05 million were customers of no-frills brands (up from 1.81 million a year earlier). freenet expects contract customer numbers to continue declining in 2011 – by approximately 500,000 – and anticipates that its ‘no-frills’ subscriber base will grow further.