Formerly state-owned national Danish phone company Tele Danmark A/S said yesterday its 23% increase in 1996 revenue was mainly due to reciepts from its partly-owned Belgian operator Belgacom NV. It said Belgacom’s contribution to overall group revenue last year was equivalent to $562m; it acquired a 16.5% stake in the semi-privatized Belgian phone company in March 1996. Revenue in its Danish business rose 4.1%, of which $62m was directly related to cellular telephone activities. Tele Danmark said that although increased activity on the cellular front had helped raise revenue, tariff cuts and promotional costs in a highly competitive market reduced earnings by $22m in 1996. It added that a similar price war with lower margins on overseas telephone calls had forced income down by $32.5m last year. It said that while increased competition had meant a 5.4% fall in income on overseas calls due to tariff cuts, domestic tele- phone calls had shown a 3.3% revenue rise in 1996, with an 8% growth in traffic to and from abroad helping to offset market losses. Foreign investments, mainly Belgacom, made up 16% of revenue.
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