KPNQwest promises profit 'before the end of the year'

Shares in the US-Dutch joint venture were up 16 per cent on the Amsterdam bourse to £7.68 today, having already risen 10 per cent late last week on merger rumours regarding its heavily indebted telco parent, KPN.

First quarter losses were down 35 per cent from the comparable period last year, at £13m. Revenue between the periods doubled to £101.6m. The company said that it has booked £56m in infrastructure sales, bringing its total to £477.86m

The IP and mobile company claimed to be experiencing strong growth across its product lines. Its fibre optic net is designed to link 50 European cities and is almost complete. Last week it announced that its north German mobile subsidiary had arranged financing that would see it through building its UMTS and GMS networks.

Last week, US parent Qwest announced the appointment of a former BT executive as president and COO. Afshin Mohebbi was, until March 1999, MD of UK markets for BT, running the $18bn business, serving 20 million domestic and 1.5 million business customers.