Earnings: Deutsche Telekom Posts $1.14 Billion Loss; Company Stablizing

Fourth quarter earnings are out today for Deutsche Telecom. Europe's largest telecoms group reported a loss of 757 million euros ($1.14 billion) for the period ending December 2007, down from an 898 million euro loss a year ago. The company was expected to post a profit and blamed the loss on a 1.4 billion euro ($2.11 billion) charge it took related to its job-cuts program in the quarter, reports Bloomberg. Its adjusted net profit for the fourth quarter was down 2 percent from a year ago to €808 million ($1.2 billion), on sales that dipped 0.6 percent to 15.8 billion euros.

After several quarters of losses, Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) said the business was stabilizing. It forecast that EBITDA, excluding some items, will be around 19.3 billion euros, virtually unchanged from 2007. Deutsche Telekom has been struggling to shore up losses as fixed line customers in Germany abandon the company. In the fourth quarter alone, the lost 537,000 lines, which brings the year's total to 2.1 million fixed phone connections in Germany lost (release).

Highlights from Q4 include:

—The company's broadband/fixed network T-Home saw revenues decline by 8.0 percent in Germany in the 2007 financial year to EUR 20.1 billion. T-Home, however, kept its lead in Germany's broadband market, gaining just under 2 million new broadband DSL customers in 2007, bringing the total subscriber base to 9 million users.

— In 2007, T-Mobile Deutschland, the firm's mobile business, signed up 962,000 new fixed-term contract customers, an increase of 20.7 percent compared with 2006. Overall, T-Mobile increased its subscriber base in Germany to almost 36 million at year-end and attributed its strong growth on its MyFaves calling plan and the iPhone.

— T-Mobile's international divisions are once again coming to the company's rescue. Excluding Germany, revenue rose to EUR 27.1 billion in the 2007 financial year, an increase of 12.2 percent on 2006. Its US and UK businesses were growing particularly well. T-Mobile USA revenues were up 3.3 percent to EUR 14.1 billion, while T-Mobile UK saw its revenue increase by 7.1 percent to EUR 4.8 billion.

—T-Mobile USA added 3.6 million new subscribers last year, bringing its total customer base to 28.7 million, 74 percent of whom are contract customers.