Deutsche Telekom Reports Growth in U.S.

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The Associated Press

BERLIN -- Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG said Thursday its U.S. mobile unit gained its largest number of new customers to date last year, with rapid growth in the fourth quarter powering a strong overall wireless performance.

T-Mobile USA gained a net 1.4 million customers in the October-December period, the Bonn-based parent company said. For the year, it added 4.4 million subscribers _ a gain of 25 percent that took its total number of customers to 21.7 million at the end of the year.

Worldwide, T-Mobile added 3.6 million new customers in the fourth quarter and 9 million over the course of 2005. At the end of December, it had 86.6 million subscribers _ a gain of 11.6 percent from a year earlier.

Telekom's purchase of T-Mobile USA, then VoiceStream, during the technology boom was criticized by many investors and analysts at the time. However, the unit has since become a key driver of growth.

Germany is still T-Mobile's largest market. The company said subscriber numbers in its home country rose by 7.5 percent last year "in a market characterized by increasingly tough competition."

The operator gained more than 810,000 customers in the fourth quarter, and 2.1 million over the whole year, for a total of 29.5 million at the end of December.

In its third-biggest market, Britain, T-Mobile added 845,000 customers in the fourth quarter and 1.4 million over the year for a total of

17.2 million.

Also on Thursday, Deutsche Telekom's Internet arm, T-Online International AG, said it added 407,000 new customers in Germany in the fourth quarter for its high-speed DSL service.

It attracted another 102,000 new DSL customers in France and Spain in the quarter, and said it added more than 1.2 million new DSL customers overall last year. T-Online did not give total subscriber numbers.

Deutsche Telekom shares rose 1.2 percent to close at 13.07 euros ($16.05) in Frankfurt trading.

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