Qtel profits down 13%, 18% in Q3, 9M periods

Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel) has reported 13% and 18% year-on-year drops in its third-quarter and nine-month consolidated net profits to QAR567 million (USD156 million) and QAR2.0 billion respectively, attributing the fall to price promotions introduced to fight tough competition alongside foreign exchange losses. The drop in profitability came despite group-wide revenues increasing year-on-year by 16.6% to QAR8.13 billion in July-September 2011 and by 16.8% to QAR23.6 billion in the first nine months of the year. The group’s EBITDA for 9M11 rose by 15% to QAR10.93 billion. The consolidated customer base rose by 19.4% to 82.4 million at 30 September, up from 69.1 million a year earlier. The company said that ‘normalised net profit’ increased by 6.4% year-on-year in the first three quarters, while CEO Nasser Marafih added: ‘Our focus remains on customer retention and growth. In the period we have undertaken competitive promotions of our products and services across our markets while also managing costs … This has resulted in strong EBITDA growth in key markets such as Iraq, Kuwait and Algeria compared with 2010.’