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Three of Europe's largest cellcos - T-Mobile, Telefonica O2 and Telecom Italia Mobile - showed some resilience against the downturn as they reported 2008 results, with mobile broadband, SIM-only deals and high profile handsets continuing to drive revenues. In the US, however, simple SMS messaging was more significant to T-Mobile USA's results than its new 3G network, despite the impact of its G1 Android smartphone.

Overall, T-Mobile reported revenue growth of 2.4% in 2008 to €35.6bn ($44.8bn) in 2008. Its US subsidiary was the star performer, with 13.5% growth, while central and eastern Europe saw an increase of 10%. In Europe's most competitive market, the UK, T-Mobile was dragged down, with a revenue slide of over 2%.

Without mobile broadband and the impact of the G1 - especially in the US and UK, where T-Mobile does not have the iPhone as it does in Germany - the results would have been considerably worse, the company admitted. In the UK, the G1 was the bestselling handset launched in 2008 and accounted for 20% of all contract sales, said T-Mobile, and mobile broadband revenues, mainly dongle-based leapt by 250% year-on-year. Across Europe, data revenues rose by 45% to €1.4bn, mainly driven by internet heavy devices like the iPhone and the UK's G1, plus the dongles.

So far, data is less advanced in the T-Mobile USA mix, partly because its 3G network has only been significantly built out during the past year, and the company has had to rely on strong customer service, attractive tariffs and its Wi-Fi Hotspot@Home service for differentiation. Data revenue is now 18.5% of the US total, and has leapt by 31%, to reach $9.30 per subscriber (up from $8.20 in 2007), but this is well behind the data ARPU of the big three US cellcos, which all reported more than $13. The primary driver remains SMS, with T-Mobile doubling the volume of text and multimedia messages it carried in the fourth quarter, compared to the same period a year earlier, the figure reaching 57bn.

T-Mobile's parent, Deutsche Telekom, is to integrate its German mobile and fixed businesses in order to pursue a more regional, converged focus. "We intend to bundle product development, IT and technology across Europe in future," said CEO René Obermann. The company as a whole reported a €730m loss for the fourth quarter of 2008, slightly narrowed from €750m a year earlier. The loss was attributed to the cost of acquisition of a 25% stake in the Greek operator, OTE. Adjusted net profit rose by 14% to €3.4bn.

Meanwhile, Telefonica O2 reported a strong Q4, boosted by SIM-only deals and mobile broadband in the UK. Revenues rose 10.4% to €1.755bn, with customer numbers up 7.5%. The main success was in the UK, where revenues were up 10.4%, while by contrast, Germany was flat and Ireland declined by 2.8%.

Over in Italy, Telecom Italia reported a profit of €444m in the fourth quarter, almost doubled from a year earlier, though that period had been hit by restructuring costs of about €300m. Revenue fell 0.3% to €7.76bn. The results were above analyst expectations, and following solid figures from Telefonica and T-Mobile, raised hopes that the European telecoms sector will be resilient amid recession.

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