VIENNA, July 18 (Reuters) - Telekom Austria, a unit of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim's America Movil, reported a 7.8 percent rise in second-quarter core profit, helped by strong demand in its home market and in Belarus.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose to 359.3 million euros ($415.3 million) on revenue of 1.08 billion euros, the group said on Tuesday.

While the hit from the abolition of retail roaming charges in the European Union came in slightly lower than expected in the second quarter, the expected losses for the second half of the year remained the same, the group said.

($1 = 0.8652 euros) (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Mark Potter)