Nawras reports rise in FY profit, revenue

Oman’s second national telecoms operator Nawras posted a 20% increase in full-year profit for 2010 on the back of rising turnover, the company said in statement to the Muscat bourse. The operator, which is controlled by Qatar Telecom (Qtel), saw net income rise to OMR50 million (USD129.3 million) in 2010 from OMR41.5 million a year earlier. Nawras generated revenue of OMR188.9 million in the year ended 31 December 2010, up 10% year-on-year, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 16.9% to OMR102.5 million against OMR87.5 million in 2009. ‘We look forward to fixed services making a full contribution to results as we implement our complete range of products and services in this sector and secure market share, particularly in the business segment,’ commented the company’s CEO Ross Cormack on Nawras’ fixed line offering, launched last year for both residential and corporate users, adding: ‘Strong growth will continue in the mobile sector – if not quite at the same pace as early years – driven by the demand for additional SIM cards for use in multiple handsets, PDAs, and similar devices. Broadband value-added services will also be an important growth generator through applications in security, IP telephony, home networks, internet voice, music downloads and video-over-broadband.’ Nawras was founded in 2004 by a consortium comprising Qatar incumbent Qtel (which owns a 55% stake in the company), Danish counterpart TDC (15%) and a number of Omani investors (30%).