German telecoms group Deutsche Telekom (DT) has announced its financial results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2013, reporting a 3.4% increase in net revenue to EUR60.132 billion (USD82.6 billion) from EUR58.169 billion in the year-ago period. Net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2014 reached EUR15.665 billion, up by 6.5% year-on-year. DT said revenue growth was partly driven by the first-time inclusion of US mobile company MetroPCS from 1 May 2013, but even in organic terms (i.e. excluding changes in the composition of the group and currency effects), net revenue increased by 0.8% in 2013 and 2.8% in Q4. Adjusted EBITDA for the year declined 3.1% year-on-year to EUR17.424 billion, while net profit totalled EUR930 million, compared to a net loss of EUR5.353 billion in 2012. Adjusted for special factors, net profit reached EUR2.755 billion for the twelve-month period, an increase of 8.6% from EUR2.537 billion the previous year. ‘The figures for 2013 underscore that DT is now ideally positioned to become the leading European telecommunications provider,’ commented the firm’s CEO Tim Hottges, adding: ‘Our results lay the perfect groundwork for 2014. This year, we will be able to tackle the remaining challenges with rigor.’ DT expects EBITDA to remain stable at EUR17.6 billion for 2014, as the Bonn-based telco focuses on investments in customer acquisition and retention in the US in order to further improve the market position of T-Mobile US.
In its domestic market, DT generated total revenue of EUR22.435 billion in 2013, down 1.3% from EUR22.736 billion in the year-ago period, while adjusted EBITDA fell 2.5% to EUR8.936 billion, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 39.7%, which is within the target range of around 40% for 2013. Mobile data revenue, which grew 30.1% year-on-year in 4Q13, remains one of the driving forces in DT’s German wireless operations. In the US, revenues climbed 20.7% in 2013 to EUR18.556 billion, mainly due to the first-time inclusion of MetroPCS and increased revenue from terminal equipment, and adjusted EBITDA grew 0.9% from EUR3.840 billion in 2012 to EUR3.874 billion. Meanwhile, revenue in the Europe segment declined 5.2% to EUR13.659 billion in 2013, attributable to the strained economic environment, exchange rate effects and changes in the composition of the group, including the deconsolidation of the Bulgarian units as of 31 July, while adjusted EBITDA dropped 8.5% year-on-year to EUR4.518 billion in 2013.
As at 31 December 2013 DT’s domestic wireless subscriber base stood at 38.625 million (up 5.6% from 36.568 million a year earlier), with the company reporting its best result in recent years in Q4 with regard to new contract customers, which increased by 638,000. Increased competition saw fixed broadband connections decrease by 0.5% year-on-year to 12.360 million and fixed telephony lines dropped 4.3% to 21.417 million, while pay-TV accesses (IPTV and satellite) climbed 10.7% to 2.177 million. DT said the total number of VDSL and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) lines climbed by 54% in the year to over 1.5 million. Internationally, the group’s US subsidiary ended 2013 with 46.684 million mobile subscribers, a jump of 39.8% year-on-year and including 22.299 million branded post-paid customers (up by more than two million in a year). Across its European operations, mobile customers numbered 56.679 million at 31 December 2013, down 1.2% from 57.357 million twelve months earlier, while retail broadband lines and TV customers rose 4.7% to 4.991 million and 21.1% to 3.554 million, respectively, due in part to the acquisition of Digi Slovakia.