Qtel’s profit jumps 57.9%, revenues up 113%

Qatar Telecommunications Company (Qtel) has announced a 57.9% year-on-year rise in third-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders to QAR651 million (USD179 million), up from QAR412 million twelve months ago. Consolidated group revenue for the three months ended 30 September 2008 was QAR6.16 billion, up 113% from QAR2.89 billion in the previous year, as a result of international expansion via acquisitions as well as organic growth in countries including Algeria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, the Maldives and Indonesia. Qtel’s total customer base reached 55.7 million at the end of 3Q 2008, up from 14.4 million a year earlier. Its Kuwaiti-based subsidiary National Mobile Telecommunications Company (Wataniya Telecom) posted revenues of QAR4.83 billion in the first nine months of 2008 (without giving a year-ago figure), whilst Qtel’s Omani unit Nawras saw its nine-month revenues reaching QAR953 million, compared with QAR610 million a year ago.