FRANKFURT AM MAIN, :German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom slightly raised its 2017 outlook, again driven by strong growth in the United States, even as third quarter profits plummeted.

The logistics group saw net profit tumble by more than 50 percent to 507 million euros between July and September, notably hit by a 1.2-billion-euro impairment loss at its IT subsidiary T-Systems.

Third-quarter adjusted operating profit grew by 3.3 percent however to 5.7 billion euros, on the back of revenues up 0.8 percent to 18.3 billion euros.

"Deutsche Telekom continues to post strong growth, which is why we are upgrading our forecast for the second time this year," said Tim Hoettges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom.

"This was made possible by our booming US business, our strong performance in Germany, and the positive trends in our European subsidiaries."

Growth in revenues was strongest at the group's T-Mobile US division, which gained 13 million new customers in third quarter.

T-Mobile and fellow US wireless operator Sprint last Saturday called off merger talks after failing to agree on mutually acceptable terms.

The merger collapse drew a line under a tie-up that would have virtually matched second-ranked AT&T and posed stiff competition to market leader Verizon Communications.

Undaunted by the setback, Deutsche Telekom said it now expected adjusted operating profits for the full year to reach 22.4 to 22.5 billion euros, up from 22.3 billion previously.

Investors appeared satisfied with Telekom's performance, with shares in the group up 1.4 percent to trade at 15.26 euros by 0815 GMT, outperforming a DAX blue-chip index down 0.02 percent.-AFP