Deutsche Telekom did better than expected in quarterly profit terms as improved earnings in the United States offset heavy investments in its German networks.<br /><br />Second-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), excluding special items, rose to 4.43 billion euros.<br /><br />That comes as its American offshoot – T-Mobile US – reported its first net profit in a year and raised its forecasts for subscriber growth there. <br /><br />Deutsche Telekom now has a tough decision on whether to stay in the United States.<br /><br />It had planned to sell T-Mobile US, but potential buyer Sprint has pulled out because competition regulators indicated they would not approve such a merger.<br /><br />However there is interest from French telecoms firm Iliad – which trades as Free – and perhaps from the second largest US satellite operator Dish Network. <br /><br /> Iliad has made a low-ball offer for the business and the chairman of Dish has said it now makes sense to consider bidding for T-Mobile US, with Sprint out of the picture.<br /><br />The German telecoms operator did not make any comments about the process in its earnings statement.<br /><br />with Reuters
