Deutsche Telekom (DT) raised its outlook for the remainder of 2022 after reporting a solid first quarter, thanks in part to a strong showing by its U.S. division, T-Mobile.
DT’s group revenue increased 6.2% in the first quarter, with service revenues growing even faster by 10%. The company now expects adjusted EBITDA-AL of more than $38 billion in 2022, up from the previous $37.9 billion.
“This was a strong start to the new year,” said CFO Christian Illek in a statement. “We are continuing to grow on an organic basis and are therefore in a position to raise our guidance for 2022.”
Net profit in the first quarter was more than four times higher than in the first quarter of the prior year at $4 billion. DT attributed the increase primarily to the sale of 50% of the FTTH company GlasfaserPlus to IFM and the completion of the transaction in the Netherlands. Adjusted net profit increased by 86.3% to $2.3 billion.
In the U.S., T-Mobile US added 1.3 million new mobile postpaid customers in the first quarter, ending March with a total of 109.5 million customers. DT pointed out that high-speed internet, offered via fixed wireless, emerged as a new growth area for the company, with customers in rural areas in particular swapping their fixed-network lines for mobile solutions.
In Germany, revenue increased slightly by 0.9% to $6.2 billion. Mobile services revenues increased substantially against the prior-year period, up by 2.5%. 5G coverage increased by more than 11 percentage points compared with the first quarter of 2021 to reach around 92 percent.
Organic segment revenue for the Europe segment grew by 4.2%, and mobile service revenues were up 2.2%.
This marked the last time T-Mobile Netherlands was included in the group’s results, as its sale to private equity funds was completed on March 31. In the first quarter, T-Mobile Netherlands recorded 47,000 mobile contract additions.