* Q3 core profit 5.54 bln euros vs 5.49 bln expected
* German mobile services revenues rise 0.2 pct in Q3
* Shares indicated to open 1.7 pct higher at top of DAX (Adds details on German mobile, share indication)
By Harro Ten Wolde
FRANKFURT, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom reported better-than-expected third-quarter core profit and sales on Thursday helped by ongoing growth in its U.S. operations and a return to growth of German mobile service revenues.
Third-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding special items, rose 7.2 percent to 5.54 billion euros ($6.06 billion), just above the average estimate of 5.49 billion euros in a Reuters poll.
Revenues rose by 5.9 percent to 18.1 billion euros, helped by a 0.2 percent rise in German mobile services revenues. This was better than analysts had expected and also better than the 1.8-percent drop its competitor Telefonica Deutschland had reported last month.
Deutsche Telekom shares were indicated to open 1.7 percent higher at the top of the German blue chip index which is seen opening 0.6 percent higher, according to pre-market data at brokerage Lang & Schwarz.
Analyst Polo Tang at UBS described the results as “encouraging”, sticking to his “Buy” recommendation for the stock.
Deutsche Telekom confirmed its 2016 outlook for adjusted EBITDA to rise to around 21 billion euros and free cash flow of around 4.9 billion euros.
T-Mobile US Inc, of which Deutsche Telekom owns almost 65 percent, is now almost as big as Deutsche Telekom’s German business, bringing in 2.156 billion euros in adjusted EBITDA, just below the 2.25 billion Germany generated.
Last month T-Mobile US again raised its forecast for customer additions for the year after adding 969,000 postpaid customers in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 890,000 in the second quarter.
T-Mobile’s net income surged to $366 million from $138 million. ($1 = 0.9144 euros) (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Victoria Bryan)