Telefonica Brasil 3Q Net Profit Up 6.6% At BRL1.33 Billion

Telefonica Brasil SA.(VIVT3.BR, VIV) Thursday reported its net profit rose 6.6% to 1.33 billion Brazilian reais ($754 million) in the third quarter from a year earlier due mainly to higher revenue.

The Brazilian telecom company's revenue rose to BRL8.26 billion in the third-quarter from BRL7.9 billion in the year-earlier period.

The third-quarter results included that of fixed telephone company and mobile phone operator Vivo SA. Earlier this year, Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF), which controls the companies, unified its fixed-line and mobile operations by integrating them into a single company, Telesp.

The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, were down 0.8% to BRL2.82 billion. The company posted an Ebitda margin--considered a key indicator of profitability--of 34.2% in the third quarter, down from 37.2%.

-By Rogerio Jelmayer, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-3544-7071; [e-mail]