OREANDA-NEWS. All strategy-related trends are clearly on an upward trajectory. An excellent performance in the German mobile market, record customer additions in the United States, strong financial development in Europe and improvements in Systems Solutions - these are Deutsche Telekom's results for the third quarter. These trends gave rise to an increase in the Group's net revenue by 0.8 percent compared with the prior-year period to EUR 15.6 billion. For the first time in the history of Deutsche Telekom, more than 60 percent of revenue was generated abroad.

Higher market investments in Germany and the United States had a noticeable effect on adjusted EBITDA. Nevertheless, the decline remained slight, down just 1.8 percent to EUR 4.6 billion. A moderate decline of 1.8 percent was also recorded for the first nine months of the year.

"The challenges vary regionally, but we are clearly making progress everywhere," said Tim Hottges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. "Whether in the Unites States, Europe, or our home market of Germany, it has been a very successful quarter for us."

The Group substantially increased its capital expenditure once again. In the third quarter, cash capex excluding expenses for mobile spectrum amounted to EUR 2.5 billion and thus was 10.3 percent higher than a year earlier. At EUR 800 million, adjusted net profit remained more or less stable in the third quarter, down 2.8 percent. Unadjusted, it decreased 13.9 percent, as the proceeds from the sale of the Bulgarian subsidiaries had been posted in the prior-year quarter.

Free cash flow decreased by 21.2 percent to EUR 1.1 billion in the third quarter. This is in line with the guidance, as is the cumulative figure for the first nine months of EUR 3.2 billion. Deutsche Telekom has confirmed its forecast for the full year in line with market expectations. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to amount to around EUR 17.6 billion. Free cash flow is expected to total some EUR 4.2 billion.