Oman Telecom Q4 net profit falls 67%

State-owned telco Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) has posted a 67% fall in fourth quarter net profit to OMR9.74 million (USD20.17 million), down from OMR29.4 million in the same period a year earlier. Omantel attributed the decline to impairment losses of OMR18.88 million linked to Pakistan-based Worldcall Telecom, which it acquired in February 2008. The company announced that full year net profit attributable to shareholders rose 4.2% to OMR116.7 million, compared to OMR112 million in 2007. The telco posted a 58.1% increase in its total subscriber base to 2.95 million, including 836,000 Worldcall Telecom wireline subscribers.