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Brazilian cable television provider Net Servicos de Comunicacao SA (NETC) feels comfortable following through with its 2009 investment plans, despite the slowdown in the Brazilian economy, and will spend 1 billion Brazilian reals ($441 million) this year, Chief Executive Jose Felix said Wednesday.

Net, Latin America's No. 1 pay TV firm and a leading Brazilian broadband Internet provider, will maintain investment at 2008 levels after seeing no significant fall- off in demand in the first two months of the year, the executive told journalists on a conference call.

"We are cautious," Felix said. "But from what we have seen, there is no dramatic slowdown and we see no reason to lower our aggressive expansion and margins goals. We need to keep investing to hit those targets."

Net, which is controlled by Brazilian media giant Globo and Telefonos de Mexico (TMX), saw its pay TV subscriber base grow by 597,000 to 3.06 million in 2008 and its broadband Internet base expand by 794,000 to 2.22 million.

Felix said the company is confident it can repeat that performance, in nominal terms, next year.

"Our penetration is still low for pay TV and the use of our network is restricted. There is a lot of room for growth, regardless of a slowing economy," said the bullish executive.

Brazil's economy was robust through most of 2008, while many other countries faltered amid the credit crunch. But the crisis hit these shores in the fourth quarter with the economy showing clear signs of slowing down. A central bank survey of analysts, released Monday, forecast growth to slow from 5.4% in 2008 to 1.7% in 2009.

Net does not expect average revenue per user, or Arpu, to fall significantly from the BRL136.20 registered in the fourth quarter, he said.

As a result, the company is hopeful of hitting its target for margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, of 26%.

The company's net debt almost doubled in 2008 after it used a credit line from Banco Inbursa to purchase local pay TV and broadband operator Big TV, and saw its dollar-denominated debt soar following the near 30% depreciation of the Brazilian real against the dollar.

The company's net debt ended the fourth quarter at BRL1.02 billion, up from BRL555 million in the year-ago period.

However, Felix said that the jump in debt was a one-off and net debt at one times Ebitda still represented a comfortable level.

Early Wednesday, Net reported a fourth-quarter net loss of BRL91 million, reversing from a net profit of BRL96 million a year earlier due to losses derived from the depreciation of the real.

Fourth-quarter net revenue rose 28% to BRL1.02 billion from BRL799 million.

Meanwhile, Ebitda was BRL278 million, up from BRL216 million a year earlier. Ebitda margin at the end of the fourth quarter was 27%, the same level seen a year ago.

Investors reacted extremely positively to the strong operational showing. Net preferred shares were 4.0% higher at BRL14.72 in early afternoon trade on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, or Bovespa, outstripping the benchmark Ibovespa index, which was 1.3% higher.

"The Ebitda margin and the elevated Arpu were, without doubt, the positives from this report," said Luciana Leocadio, telecom analyst at the Ativa brokerage in Rio de Janeiro.

-By Alastair Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; 5511-2847-4521; alastair.stewart@dowjones.com