Oman’s second national telecoms operator Nawras Telecom has announced its financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2011, reporting revenue of OMR48.1 million (USD124.6 million), an increase of 5.5% compared to turnover of OMR45.6 million posted a year earlier. In a statement to the Muscat Securities Market, the company said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the first quarter of 2011 fell 5.2% year-on-year to OMR25.6 million, due to rising investment in the operator’s mobile and new fixed service networks and increasing operational expenses, including OMR1.6 million for network maintenance. As a result, net profit dropped 13.6% over the period to OMR12.1 million, from OMR14 million in Q1 2010. Nawras, which is majority owned by Qatar Telecom (Qtel), reported a combined fixed line and mobile customer base of 1.942 million at 31 March 2011, up marginally from 1.937 million at the same date twelve months previously.
Meanwhile, Nawras has also announced the successful landing of the Tata Global Network (TGN) submarine cable in Oman by TE SubCom. The new cable link, which will be fully operational by the end of 2011, will be used to route traffic from Nawras customers in Oman to Mumbai, India and onwards to the rest of the world, via the Tata Global Network. Nawras said the cable will enable it to meet the ever-growing demand for voice and data services from customers using both its mobile and fixed services.