Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) has announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2010, reporting a 1% rise in revenue to OMR416.6 million (USD1.07 billion), compared to OMR412.3 million in 2009. In a statement to the Muscat Securities Market, Oman’s incumbent telecoms operator said net profit after tax totaled OMR112 million in 2010, down from OMR125.2 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, Omantel said its operating expenses increased 10.7% year-on-year to OMR297.1 million against OMR268.3 million in FY 2009. The operating expenses of the company’s struggling Pakistani subsidiary Worldcall Telecommunications (WTL) – in which the operator has a 56.8% stake – represented 11% of the total group operating expenses in 2010. Omantel noted that the financials for the year ended 31 December 2010 include a full twelve months of operations of WTL, whereas 2009’s figures only included six months of WTL’s operational results. In November 2010 Omantel said it would seek shareholder approval to serve as a guarantor to obtain funding for WTL.
Omantel has not yet reported its results for the fourth quarter of 2010, but according to Reuters calculations, the operator made a profit of OMR29 million in the three months ended 31 December 2010, up from OMR19.3 million in Q4 2009.