Latin America came to Telefonica’s rescue again, helping offset shrinking sales in its European operations, and boosting the company’s first quarter profits. Europe’s second largest phone company reported first quarter net income rose 9.8 percent to 1.69 billion euros ($2.31 billion), beating analyst expectations that had forecast a profit of 1.66 billion euros.

Revenues at Telefonica’s home division, Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) Espana, fell 4.2 percent to 4.9 billion euros ($6.7 billion), while sales in its Telefonica Europe unit where it operates under the O2 brand name, declined 6.6 percent to 3.2 billion euros ($4.36 billion). Latin American revenues, meanwhile, rose 4.8 percent to 5.4 billion euros ($7.36 billion). The carrier’s mobile additions grew 15.4 percent across the group to give it a total of 198 million customers, once again boosted by strong performance in Latin America, where wireless net adds grew 20.2 percent.