SAO PAULO, May 7 (Reuters) - Brazilian telecommunications operator Telefonica Brasil posted on Tuesday a 7.3% increase in its first quarter net profit from a year earlier.

The firm, which is controlled by Spain's Telefonica , posted a 896 million reais ($176.5 million) net profit for the quarter ended in March, while analysts polled by LSEG expected a 1.03 billion real net profit. ($1 = 5.0759 reais) (Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Steven Grattan)