Qtel posts 9M sales, profit growth

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has posted its results for the nine months ended 30 September 2010, revealing that group revenues increased by 14.4% year-on-year to QAR20.0 billion (USD5.5 billion), up from QAR17.5 billion, whilst net profit attributable to shareholders grew 3.7% to QAR2.4 billion (9M09: QAR2.3 billion). Nine-month consolidated EBITDA rose by 15.1% to QAR9.5 billion, and Qtel’s EBITDA margin also improved, closing the period at 48% compared to 47% in the first nine months of 2009. The Qatar-based group, with a consolidated customer base of 68.9 million at end-September 2010, saw its total domestic user base (mobile, fixed and broadband) remain virtually flat year-on-year at 2.4 million, whilst Qatari-only 9M10 revenue stood at QAR4.0 billion, down against the previous year’s figure of QAR4.3 billion, as it faced strong mobile competition from rival Vodafone Qatar. Indonesian subsidiary Indosat’s consolidated (mobile and fixed) customer base grew by 40.8% year-on-year to 40.4 million at end-September, with revenue for the nine-month period increasing by 27.8% y-o-y to QAR5.9 billion (9M 2009: QAR4.6 billion). Indosat’s 9M10 EBITDA soared by 33.8% y-o-y to QAR3.0 billion. Kuwait-based unit Wataniya Telecom – encompassing the Qtel group’s businesses in Kuwait, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the Maldives and Palestine – increased its total customer base by 29.7% y-o-y to end the period with 16.2 million (September 2009: 12.5 million). Wataniya’s revenues grew 13.9% y-o-y to QAR5.1 billion (9M 2009: QAR4.5 billion) with EBITDA improving by 11.2% to QAR2.0 billion. Qtel’s operations in Oman, under the Nawras brand, saw user numbers steadily rising to 2.0 million at end-September 2010, up from 1.8 million a year earlier, with Omani 9M turnover up 14.4% to QAR1.3 billion and EBITDA increasing 38.9% to QAR727.5 million. In the period under review Asiacell, Qtel’s Iraqi mobile division, delivered sales of QAR3.7 billion (9M 2009: QAR2.9 billion), a year-on-year growth rate of 28.9%, whilst EBITDA also improved y-o-y by 32.7% to QAR2.1 billion, up from QAR1.6 billion. Qtel did not provide a total subscriber figure for Iraq.