Oi posts 65.6% drop in 2010 net profit.

(ADPnews) - Mar 7, 2011 - Brazilian mobile phone operator Oi, in which Portugal Telecom (ELI:PTC), or PT, agreed to hold 25.6%, closed last year with a net profit of BRL 1.75 billion (USD 1.058m/EUR 0.757), down 65.6% in annual terms.

The drop was explained with a 1.9% rise in the financial costs on payments of debt to BRL 2.43 billion, Oi said in a filing on Friday. However, the consolidated debt came in at BRL 18.7 billion at end-2010, compared with BRL 21.9 billion in 2009.

Oi's turnover in 2010 totalled BRL 7.3 billion, down 3.8% year-on-year.

The company closed December 2010 with 63.95 million users, up 3.4%. The rise was due to the expansion of the mobile phone network and the number of contracted fixed Internet services.

The agreement for PT entering Oi's share capital was signed in January 2011.

(BRL 1.0 = USD 0.604/EUR 0.433)