Spain's Telefonica reported that its third-quarter net profit rose more than 84%, boosted by the consolidation of recent acquisitions and one-time gains from the sale of directory company Telefonica Publicidad e Informacion, an Associated Press report said.
The Associated Press report said the Madrid-based Telefonica, the world's fourth-largest telecom operator by subscribers, posted a net profit of 2.61 billion euros ($3.35 billion) for the three months to September 30. In the third quarter of 2005, net profit was 1.42 billion euros ($1.82 billion).
Telefonica raised its projections for 2006 and now expects revenue to grow more than 37%, the report said.
Revenue grew 37% to 13.54 billion euros ($17.37 billion) from 9.87 billion euros ($12.5 billion) in the same period last year.
Former mobile phone unit Telefonica Moviles, traditionally the main contributor to the group's net profit, was incorporated into the parent company earlier this year.