Telecom Italia profit rises 13% in Q1

Telecom Italia posted a 13% first-quarter net profit increase due to the buyout of its mobile unit's minorities, but margins fell on competitive pressure and the recent implementation of termination rate cuts, a Dow Jones report said.

The report said the operator's net profit was 744 million euros in the first three months of the year, up from 656 million euros in the same period the previous year.

The figure was better than the 710.7 million euros average forecast of nine analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Revenue grew 6.5% to 7.48 billion euros from 7.02 billion euros.

That beat the 7.42 billion euros expected by analysts, driven by growth at the company's international broadband operations and at its Brazilian mobile unit, which offset virtually flat sales at its domestic fixed and mobile units, the report said.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew slightly to 3.3 billion euros from 3.28 billion euros a year earlier, the report further said.