Good year for MTC

Kuwaiti mobile operator MTC has announced an 80% rise in revenues for 2005, while net income was up 55%. Revenues grew from KWD322.3 million (USD1.09 billion) in 2004 to KWD579.5 million (USD1.98 billion) last year, with much of the growth stemming from MTC’s acquisition of the Celtel International group. Celtel, which has a number of mobile subsidiaries across Africa, accounted for 35% of total revenues in 2005, while MTC’s Kuwaiti operations brought in a similar share. Net income grew from KWD120.2 million to KWD185.9 million. MTC had 1.43 million cellular customers in Kuwait at the end of 2005, plus just over two million in Jordan and one million in Iraq. Celtel had a total of 8.8 million subscribers in 13 African countries.