The German telecommunications giant announced Thursday its bottom-line profit climbed by 11 percent to 3.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) in 2015, outpacing analysts' expectations.

Operating earnings grew by 13.3 percent on a 10.5-percent increase in full-year revenue, Deutsche Telekom added.

It said the good results were primarily due to the strong performance of its T-Mobile US business, which "grew much faster than the other mobile operators in the US." CEO Tim Höttges stressed that at the same time the subsidiary substantially improved profitability.

Higher dividend

Now No. 3 in the US, T-Mobile customer numbers rose by 8.3 million last year to a total of 63.3 million.

"Overall, the trend in customer numbers in the US continues to show a clearly positive balance in relation to every single competitor there," the company commented.

Deutsche Telekom also grew in its home market, saying it was able to secure new customers in Germany too.

"Deutsche Telekom was extremely successful on both sides of the Atlantic in 2015," Höttges remarked while projecting substantial increases in sales and underlying profit this year.

The company said Thursday it would propose an improved dividend of 0.55 euros per share for last year, up 10 percent from a year earlier.

hg/uhe (AFP, dpa)