Brazil's leading cellular operator, Vivo Participacoes (VIV), reported Friday a first-quarter net profit of BRL123.5 million ($58.5 million), up 26.5% from BRL97.6 million in the first quarter of 2008.

Vivo's first-quarter net revenue rose 9.2% to BRL4.02 billion from BRL3.68 billion in the first quarter of 2008.

The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, were BRL1.2 billion, down from BRL1.3 billion a year earlier.

The Ebitda margin, a measure of profitability over net revenue, was 29.9% in the quarter, down from 35.5% in the same quarter of last year.

Vivo said it invested a total of BRL541.3 million in its operations in the first quarter, compared with BRL268.8 million in the first quarter of 2008.

The company ended the quarter with 45.64 million customers, a 19% increase from 38.3 million in the first quarter of last year.

Vivo is jointly controlled by Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) and Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT).

-By Rogerio Jelmayer, Dow Jones Newswires; 5511-2847-4521; rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com