Brazil's GVT Q3 profit up after year-earlier loss

The Curitiba, Brazil-based company reported net income of 57.2 million reais ($33.14 million), compared with a loss of 14.8 million reais a year earlier, according to a statement filed to the Brazilian securities regulator.

Compared to the second quarter of this year, profit was down around 19 percent from 70.3 million reais.

The company said it increased its subscriber base by 37.7 percent compared to the previous quarter to reach 223,905 lines. It added 96,597 new broadband lines, and 55,497 ADSL and 12,320 voice-over-internet lines.

GVT is a buyout target of French media giant Vivendi and Spain's Telefonica. This month, Telefonica launched an unsolicited $3.7 billion takeover bid for GVT, outmatching Vivendi's proposed $3 billion offer unveiled in early September.

Both companies see GVT as a perfect fit to capture high-usage and high-margin customers in Brazil, Latin America's largest telecommunications market.

Net revenue rose 27 percent to 442.4 million reais from 347.4 million a year earlier. Expenses, including connection costs and maintenance, rose 19 percent to 146 million reais.

Analysts said Vivendi and Telefonica would like to buy GVT to control its telecom network with a backbone of more than 15,000 kilometers (10,000 miles), and count on with GVT's revenue growth that is six times the local industry's average.

For Telefonica, buying GVT would allow it to expand beyond its home market of Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous state. GVT is the No. 4 provider of high-speed Internet in Brazil, with about 5 percent of the market.

GVT shares rose 0.49 percent to 49.50 reais in Sao Paulo on Wednesday. The shares have gained 95 percent this year.

GVT is a so-called mirror telecom operator in Brazil, an alternative services provider to licensed carriers that uses its own infrastructure. Its coverage spans for 79 cities in Brazil's Midwest, southern and northern regions.

The company has permission to provide local and long- distance services in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte -- the largest metropolitan areas in Brazil.

($1=1.726 reais)