Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel) has reported a 59% leap in net profit in the second quarter ended 30 June 2008 to QAR654.5 million (USD179.9 million), on the back of a 78% percent rise in revenue to QAR4.56 billion.
In a separate announcement, Qtel said Indonesia’s supreme court had issued a ruling allowing it to keep the 41% stake in Indonesia’s second-largest mobile phone firm it purchased in June, and that it would launch a tender offer for outstanding shares, a process that still awaits regulatory approval. ‘The addition of Indosat to the group means that Qtel now has an international consolidated customer base of over 51 million,’ Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, chairman of Qtel, said.
State-controlled Qtel has expanded rapidly outside its home country in recent years: Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, Oman and Indonesia (post-acquisition) represent the firm’s six largest markets by revenue, contributing 32%, 19%, 15%, 10%, 8% and 7% to group revenues respectively. Qtel said it had consolidated Indosat’s results from June and that it would consolidate Indosat’s full quarterly results starting in the third quarter, which would provide a significant increase in revenue.