Netherlands-based operator group KPN said it had seen a “mixed performance” from its operations in the third quarter of 2012, with the company noting weakness in Germany, where “competition on price has intensified in recent quarters which is leading to a slow-down in E-Plus’ top line growth”.

The company announced a third-quarter net profit of EUR250 million, down 32 percent year-on-year from EUR368 million, on revenue of EUR3.05 billion, down 6.5 percent from EUR3.26 billion.

It noted factors for the revenue drop including the sale of its Getronics IT services business and declining revenue in the Netherlands.
In its domestic Consumer Mobile business, EBITDA increased by 3.6 percent to EUR144 million year-on-year, on revenue which fell 11 percent year-on-year to EUR422 million from EUR473 million.

This business “remained exposed to regulation and lower traffic volumes, resulting in lower service revenues”, KPN said.

Its contract customer based remained stable at 3.5 million customers, while its prepaid base saw some shrinkage to 4.1 million due to “continued competition in the ethnic segment and migrations to postpaid SIM only”.

Its Mobile International unit saw EBITDA fall 7.9 percent to EUR396 million from EUR430 million, on revenue which decreased 1.3 percent to EUR1.07 billion from EUR1.09 billion.

In Germany, “increased price-led competition in recent quarters has resulted in a slowdown in top line growth”, with customers “increasingly receptive to and taking advantage of opportunities in the market to reduce their costs and improve their tariffs”.

Earlier this year, KPN had held talks about the sale of E-Plus, its German mobile business, and Base, its Belgian operation. The former was cancelled due to “the current adverse conditions in financial markets”, while the latter was called off for similar reasons.

The company said that since the start of a job reduction programme, some EUR208 million restructuring costs have been recorded relating to around 2,500 staff. It said that the programme has resulted in around 1,300 “exits” since it began.

While reaffirming its full-year target, the company acknowledged that “in the coming period market conditions will remain challenging”.