Apple's iPhone is "pretty useless" and sales in Germany have not dented new customer numbers for E-Plus, the German mobile unit of KPN, said Ad Scheepbouwer, chief executive of the Dutch telecoms company.

However, speaking after KPN reported fourth-quarter results in line with expectations and an upbeat outlook, Mr Scheepbouwer also said KPN would be interested in selling the iPhone in the Netherlands, where it has yet to be launched.

"I had one and I thought it was a pretty useless phone, to be quite honest," he told the Financial Times. "The battery ran out in no time. I didn't like the touch screen.

"We'd be more than happy to sell it," he added. "We have half the market in the Netherlands and we hope we will be the party of choice."

He said he had spoken to Apple but did not know when it planned a Dutch launch.

KPN's E-Plus unit in Germany competes against Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT - News) 's T-Mobile, which has exclusive rights to market the phone there.

But Mr Scheepbouwer said the 70,000 iPhones sold since November in Germany was "not a particularly impressive number" compared with the 700,000 net new customers E-Plus gained in the fourth quarter, its fastest growth since 2000.

The group's fourth-quarter net profit rose to €1.58bn ($2.31bn) from €426m a year earlier, because of a tax gain at E-Plus. Earnings per share rose to €0.85 from €0.22. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 6 per cent to €1.2bn, helped by the acquisition of IT service provider Getronics and margins at E-Plus.

After several years without growth, Mr Scheepbouwer said the company's core Dutch business was close to recovery. He announced a "Back to Growth" programme that includes a target to raise annual revenues from €12.6bn to €15bn by 2010, and dividend per share to €0.80 from €0.54 over the same period.

The company has pioneered replacing traditional telecoms infrastructure with internet-based technology to cut costs and offer more products while relying on growth from E-plus and its Base mobile network in Belgium to make up for shrinkage in the Dutch fixed-line market.

www.ft.com/techblog