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Deutsche Telekom raised its annual projection for the second time and reported quarterly profit above expectations on Thursday. The results were boosted by strong sales from its US T-Mobile unit and European businesses.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization after leases (EBITDA AL) increased to €9.9 billion ($10.2 billion), slightly above analysts’ average projections of €9.8 billion euros. The telecommunications operator’s Q2 revenue increased 5.9 percent to €28.2 billion, matching market expectations.

Sales fell by around 1.1 percent. According to Deutsche Telekom, the main reason for the decline was lower income from leasing phones to mobile subscribers as the company transitions its US operation to a new strategy.

Deutsche is close to majority ownership of T-Mobile

The business now forecasts adjusted EBITDA AL of about €37 billion in 2022, an increase from the initial outlook of €36.6 billion.

Deutsche Telekom, which has about €136 billion euros in debt, is offloading its tower business to free up capital for infrastructure and maintain control of its US T-Mobile subsidiary.

Last month, the company agreed to sell 51 percent of its tower business to a group led by Canada’s Brookfield and the United States’ DigitalBridge for €17.5 billion.

Deutsche Telekom purchased more T-Mobile shares from Japanese corporation SoftBank earlier this year for $2.4 billion, increasing its investment in the US carrier to 48.4 percent and putting it within arm’s reach of a majority position.

Deutsche Telekom’s future plans

T-Mobile, representing three-fifths of group revenue, has been gaining users since its merger with Sprint and its 5G service launch. T-Mobile recruited 1.7 million monthly bill pay users in the most recent quarter, bringing its total to 110 million.

Deutsche says it will continue to work to gain majority control of T-Mobile while paying off its debts. Deutsche recorded 54.6 million mobile consumers in Germany and 46.5 million in Europe.