Omantel subscriber growth begins to slow

State-owned telco Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel), has increased its mobile subscriber base by 15.2% year-on-year to 1.71 million. Although still a respectable growth rate, it represents a slowdown in growth of 3.8 percentage points compared to 2007, with fourth quarter net additions standing at a two-year low of 28,000. Meanwhile, the company’s total revenue increased by 17.1% to OMR427.9 million (USD1.11 billion) in 2008, up from OMR365.3 million a year earlier. Operating profit saw an even greater rise of 25.9%, which took the 2008 figure to OMR157.7 million, up from OMR125.2 million a year earlier. Net profit increased by 4.1% to OMR117.2 million, with the company attributing what it calls ‘a less impressive performance’ in this sector to the effect of an impairment loss of OMR18.9 million from Omantel’s investment in Pakistani fixed line operator Worldcall Telecom.