Status: 10.11.2022 1:10 p.m
Deutsche Telekom can look forward to an unusually high increase in customers in the third quarter. Business is also going well at the Internet provider United Internet.
A massive influx of customers has boosted the profits of the telecommunications industry. In the third quarter, Deutsche Telekom, for example, managed to increase the number of its new contracts in Germany at an above-average rate. United Internet and its subsidiary 1&1 were also able to continue on their growth course thanks to numerous new customers.
Record growth for Telekom’s US subsidiary
With an increase of 368,000 new mobile contract customers under its own brand, the number of new contracts from July to September grew significantly more strongly than in previous quarters, as Deutsche Telekom announced today. This far exceeded the expectations of industry observers.
The board referred to new tariffs as the reason for the strong growth. Telekom also gained more customers than expected in the broadband segment. According to its own statements, the US subsidiary T-Mobile even achieved a record in customer growth in the past quarter: It recorded 1.6 million new contract customers, 854,000 of them telephony customers.
Growth driver T-Mobile
Group sales rose by 8.8 percent to EUR 29 billion, in particular due to the successful US business. According to the company announcement, service revenues increased by an above-average 12.5 percent to 23.6 billion euros.
However, there are clear differences between the regions: while Telekom’s US sales grew by 15.9 percent, Europe posted a minus of 1.1 percent. The development of service revenues diverged even further with plus 24.6 percent and minus 4.4 percent.
Dollar strength benefits Telekom
Deutsche Telekom’s adjusted operating profit grew by 8.5 percent to EUR 10.5 billion in the third quarter. The bottom line is that the net result climbed by 80 percent to 2.4 billion euros. However, among other things, Telekom has benefited from the current strength of the dollar, which has risen by 17 cents year-on-year, according to the annual report.
If one calculates this effect, the total and service sales would have increased by only 0.5 and 3.4 percent, respectively, and the operating result by only 0.7 percent. Based on the results, management plans to raise the dividend from 64 cents to 70 cents this year.
Customer growth also at United Internet
United Internet and the subsidiary 1&1 are also continuing on their growth course thanks to numerous new customers. In the first nine months of the current year, the number of fee-based contracts rose by 430,000 to 27.11 million, the Internet provider United Internet announced today. As a result, sales increased by 5.2 percent to 4.38 billion euros and the operating result by 3.3 percent to 983 million euros.
According to the information provided, the mobile operator 1&1 gained 220,000 customers and now has a portfolio of 15.65 million contracts. Revenues increased by 1.7 percent to 2.95 billion euros. The operating profit is 549 million euros. This corresponds to an increase of 7.1 percent compared to the previous year’s figure adjusted for special effects.
United Internet also owns the e-mail services GMX and web.de, the sale of which had been speculated on in recent months. Another line of business is the web hosting provider Ionos, which aims to go public in 2023. 1&1 competes with Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefonica Deutschland in the mobile communications market.