Dutch telecom KPN posts loss in fourth quarter loss, will issue ?4 billion in new shares

AMSTERDAM – Royal KPN NV, the largest telecommunications company in the Netherlands, says it will issue €4 billion ($5.4 billion) in new shares after posting a fourth quarter loss of €162 million.

In the same period a year ago, KPN had net profit of €176 million, but since then its situation has deteriorated rapidly. Sales fell 3.3 per cent to €3.38 billion. Customers with smartphones starting ditching KPN’s text message and voice offerings for cheaper mobile Internet versions such as Skype. When KPN tried to charge users for using such services, Parliament made such surcharges illegal. In December, KPN paid an unexpectedly high €1.35 billion ($1.8 billion) in a bidding war to obtain frequencies for “4G,” or fourth generation, high-speed mobile Internet services. It slashed dividends and needs money to pay down debt.