OTE telecom Q1 core profit grows

Greece’s biggest telecoms operator OTE posted a 3.6 percent rise in first-quarter core profit on Wednesday thanks to a recovery in its home market.

The former national monopoly, which is 40 percent owned and managed by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 315 million euros ($372.65 million) for the quarter, up from 304 million euros a year earlier.

Heavy spending on new high-speed VDSL broadband services and a fast-growing pay-TV business have helped the group win back fixed-line customers in Greece, where sales had been dented by a sluggish economy after a seven-year debt crisis. [Reuters]