Deutsche Telekom AG shares rose Friday after Europe's biggest phone company reported a fourth-quarter loss of 730 million euros (930 million dollars) and unveiled a major revamp of its business structure, DPA reported. The result in the final three months of 2008 compared to 750 million euro loss for the same quarter in 2007, with the Bonn-based company saying it is combining its fixed-line and mobile-phone business in one unit. The move to merge the two operations follows Telekom's long-running battle to address a big loss of fixed line subscribers from the company in the face of fierce competition in its domestic German market. Telekom lost 2.8 million land line customers last year. However, the company's shares rose 2 per cent to 9.67 euros following the release of the results. Nevertheless, the group's share price is still substantially lower than the 13 euros it was trading at 12 months ago. The fourth-quarter loss came in the wake of additional costs related to job cuts and it stake in a Greek telecoms operator. But commenting on Telekom's latest results, group chief Rene Obermann said: "Our 2008 financial year is characterized by stable performance and sound financial figures." The group said adjusted group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) edged up by 0.7 per cent to 19.5 billion euros in 2008. Telekom forecasts that EBITDA will remain at 19.5 billion euros this year. Helping to underpin the results was another strong performance by Telekom's international mobile phone business, notably in the US as well as Central and Eastern Europe. The group's mobile phone EBITDA rose by 6.2 per cent last year to 11 billion euros. Telekom is proposing to hold the company dividend at 0.78 euros a share. The company also announced that Timotheus Hoettges, the current head of its fixed-line business will take over from Karl-Gherhard Eick as the group's finance chief in March.
