Austrian carrier Telekom Austria said Wednesday its net profit for the first quarter dropped 11.9 per cent year on year to Eur129.7m.

The operator attributed the decline to costs associated with its Eur730m acquisition of Belarusian cellco MDC in October.

However, MDC’s contribution also helped boost revenues by 9.9 per cent year on year to Eur1.26bn.

As a result of the acquisition, Telekom Austria said its mobile communication subscriber base increased by more than 50 per cent year on year to 15.9 million customers, while its fixed net broadband customer base increased by 13.3 per cent to 817,600.