Qtel 9M profit up 28% on 22% revenue increase; sales down 4% in Q3 though

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has reported consolidated revenues of QAR17.48 billion (USD4.08 billion) in the first nine months of 2009, up 22% year-on-year, whilst group net income jumped 28% to QAR2.35 billion in the same period. The nine-month results were tempered by a 4% year-on-year drop in quarterly revenues in July-September to QAR5.94 billion. EBITDA in January-September climbed 19% compared to last year, to QAR8.34 billion, although it too fell y-o-y in the third quarter, by 4% to QAR2.84 billion. Q3 net profit stood at QAR711 million, up 9% from the previous year. Mobile customers in Qatar rose by 44% y-o-y to reach 2.1 million at end-September 2009, whilst a major change in customer accounting methods at Indonesian subsidiary Indosat saw it end the period with 29.3 million subscribers compared to 36.4 million reported a year ago. Wataniya in Kuwait saw a 17% y-o-y increase in its user base to 12.5 million, Omani unit Nawras’ total grew by 27% to 1.8 million, and Iraqi operator Asiacell ended the third quarter with 7.4 million active SIMS, a yearly increase of 33%.