Brasil Telecom profits on mobile business

Brazilian telephone company Brasil Telecom Participacoes (BRTP4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research)(BRP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted on Tuesday a third-quarter net profit of 64.0 million reais ($29.91 million), reversing a loss of 25.1 million reais a year ago as revenue from mobile services soared.

The result marked the third straight quarterly profit for Brasil Telecom, which is controlled by Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and several Brazilian state-run pension funds. In the second quarter it made a net profit of 105 million reais.

Net revenue rose 2 percent to 2.63 billion reais from 2.58 billion reais in the third quarter a year ago as revenue from mobile lines more than doubled and revenue from data services grew 24 percent.

On an operating level, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a measure of cash flow known as EBITDA, rose to 907.9 million reais in the third quarter from 744.6 million reais in the year-earlier period.

Brasil Telecom had 3.05 million mobile clients at the end of September, up 10 percent from June and 84 percent from September last year.

It had 1.25 million broadband Internet connections in operation, a rise of 8.4 percent from June and 40 percent from September a year ago.

Land lines installed totaled 10.8 million at the end of the quarter, with only 8.6 million of those lines in service.

Gross revenue from local telephone services fell 7.7 percent from a year earlier, while revenue from long-distance services fell 11 percent.

Brasil Telecom Participacoes is the holding company that runs Brasil Telecom SA (BRTO4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research)(BTM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the country's No. 3 fixed-line operator.

(Published by Reuters, November 1, 2006)