Brazil's leading cellular phone operator, Vivo Participacoes (VIV), on Wednesday reported a second-quarter net profit of BRL172.4 million ($91.7 million), reversing a year-ago loss of BRL63.9 million, as revenues rose in a recovering economy.

The company attributed its net profit in the period to improved revenue as Brazil's economy exits from a long slump. The company also noted a reduction in provisioning in the second quarter.

In addition, a year ago, Vivo's performance was hurt by an increase in its marketing expenses as it sought to hold on to clients it acquired from a subsidiary called Telemig Celular.

Vivo's second-quarter net revenue rose 3.8% to BRL3.93 billion from BRL3.79 billion a year ago.

The company's provisioning totaled BRL65.2 million in the second quarter, down 28.2% from the year-ago period.

The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, were BRL1.19 billion, up from BRL841.7 million a year earlier.

Vivo's Ebitda margin, a measure of profitability over net revenue, was 30.4% in the quarter, up from 22.2% a year earlier.

Vivo said it invested BRL606.8 million in its operations in the second quarter, compared with BRL1.55 billion in the second quarter of 2008.

The company ended the quarter with 46.8 million customers, a 16% increase from 40.4 million in the year-ago quarter.

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

As of 1430 GMT, Vivo's shares were down 2.55% at BRL41.71 on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, the BMFBovespa.

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