The telecoms company was able to raise fees on the back of
inflation in Spain, Brazil and most of Latin America, and so benefit fully from
lower energy prices, Chief Operating Officer Angel Vila told Reuters.
He also cited efficiencies such as cutting about 2,300 jobs
in Spain and lower energy consumption when replacing old copper networks with
optic fibre.
"Our revenue growth is healthy as it comes from
services while the business of selling handsets, which comes with thin margins,
is losing pace," Vila said.
Telefonica made a net profit of 532 million euros ($571
million) in the quarter on revenues of 10.14 billion euros. Analysts had
expected a profit of 388 million euros on 10.07 billion of revenues, according
to consensus forecasts provided by the company.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization, a measure of profitability, rose 1.9% to 3.21 billion euros.
The performance was in line with the expectations of the
management, who reiterated the targets for the full year.
Telefonica shares were little changed at 1120 GMT.
Vila added that since Telefonica had lost its dominant
position at home following the recent merger between the Spanish unit of Orange
and smaller rival MasMovil, it may look at merger opportunities, but "we
have assets with the scale to keep competing and leading the market". Reuters