By Anthony Harrup

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican telecommunications heavyweight América Móvil SAB posted a large increase in first-quarter net profit, boosted by foreign exchange gains.

Latin America's largest telecommunications company by subscribers reported net profit of 30.8 billion Mexican pesos ($1.5 billion) for the January-March period, up from 1.8 billion pesos in the year-earlier quarter.

Profit was equivalent to 0.48 pesos a share, or 47 U.S. cents an American depositary receipt.

The appreciation of the Mexican peso against the euro and the U.S. dollar led to a 22.6 billion-peso foreign exchange gain, compared with a foreign exchange loss in the first quarter of 2021.

Excluding year-ago results from U.S. business TracFone Wireless, which America Móvil sold in November, revenue rose 2.4% to 211.2 billion pesos, with service revenue up 3.3%.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization -- a measure of profitability -- rose 4.2% to 81.1 billion pesos.

The company added 3.2 million wireless subscribers in the quarter to end March with close to 290 million, while fixed-line subscriptions increased by 79,000 to 74.5 million as broadband additions in the quarter offset the loss of voice and TV customers.

América Móvil issued debt for 28.9 billion pesos in the first quarter to cover an almost equivalent amount in capital expenditures. The company said it typically has higher working capital needs in the first quarter related to equipment and handset purchases, as well as tax payments.

Net debt at the end of March stood at 425 billion pesos, or 1.3 times 12-months Ebitda.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-26-22 1926ET