US drives solid Deutsche Telekom numbers but German 5G auction is a drag

German operator group Deutsche Telekom has reported solid Q1 revenue growth, driven largely by T-Mobile US.

Scott Bicheno

May 9, 2019

1 Min Read
Deutsche Telekom

German operator group Deutsche Telekom has reported solid Q1 revenue growth, driven largely by T-Mobile US.

As you can see from the table below, revenues and EBITDA all grew nicely in Q1 2019. Profits, however, went in the opposite direction, apparently due to one-off things like the cost of trying to get the merger between TMUS and Sprint approved. Speaking of the US the second table shows just how much of the revenue growth is attributable to TMUS.

Q12019

millions of

Q12018

millions of

Change%

FY2018millions of

Revenue

19,488

17,924

8.7

75,656

Proportion generated internationally in %

69.0

66.6

2.4p

67.8

EBITDA

6,461

5,269

22.6

21,836

Adjusted EBITDA

6,901

5,549

24.4

23,333

Adjusted EBITDA AL

5,940

5,487

8.3

23,074

Net profit

900

992

(9.3)

2,166

Adjusted net profit

1,183

1,190

(0.6)

4,545

Free cash flowa

2,370

1,382

71.5

6,250

Free cash flow ALa

1,557

1,318

18.1

6,051

Cash capexb

3,827

3,139

21.9

12,492

Cash capexb(before spectrum)

3,682

3,076

19.7

12,223

Net debtc

71,876

50,455

42.5

55,425

Number of employeesd

214,609

216,926

(1.1)

215,675

 

Q12019

millions of

Q12018

millions of

Change%

FY2018millions of

Germany

Total revenue

5,357

5,325

0.6

21,700

EBITDA

1,946

1,915

1.6

8,012

Adjusted EBITDA

2,114

2,082

1.5

8,610

Adjusted EBITDA AL

2,108

2,058

2.4

8,516

Number of employeesa

62,358

64,695

(3.6)

62,621

United States

Total revenue

9,796

8,455

15.9

36,522

US-$

11,124

10,394

7.0

43,063

EBITDA

3,210

2,360

36.0

9,928

Adjusted EBITDA

3,309

2,332

41.9

10,088

Adjusted EBITDA AL

2,679

2,331

14.9

10,084

US-$

3,042

2,865

6.2

11,901

Europeb

Total revenue

2,891

2,811

2.8

11,885

EBITDA

1,035

905

14.4

3,757

Adjusted EBITDA

1,059

911

16.2

3,880

Adjusted EBITDA AL

945

898

5.2

3,813

Systems Solutions

Order entry

1,609

1,506

6.8

6,776

Total revenue

1,630

1,665

(2.1)

6,936

Adj. EBIT margin (%)

(0.2)

(2.3)

2.1p

0.5

EBITDA

79

19

n.a.

163

Adjusted EBITDA

125

57

n.a.

429

Adjusted EBITDA AL

92

60

53.3

442

“We got off to a successful start to the year,” said Tim Höttges, CEO of DT. “Deutsche Telekom has much more to offer than just our sensational success in the United States. We are seeing positive trends throughout the Group.”

Not included in his canned comments, but picked up by Reuters, was Höttges inevitable irritation at the amount of cash DT is having to drop on the interminable German 5G spectrum auction. We’re on round 305 of the bidding, believe it or not, and the total pledged has now reached €5,687,520,000. Expect to hear persistent muttering about how that’s money they can’t spend on infrastructure, etc, before long.

About the Author

Scott Bicheno

As the Editorial Director of Telecoms.com, Scott oversees all editorial activity on the site and also manages the Telecoms.com Intelligence arm, which focuses on analysis and bespoke content.
Scott has been covering the mobile phone and broader technology industries for over ten years. Prior to Telecoms.com Scott was the primary smartphone specialist at industry analyst Strategy Analytics’. Before that Scott was a technology journalist, covering the PC and telecoms sectors from a business perspective.
Follow him @scottbicheno

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 56,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like