In a statement to the Muscat Securities Market, Oman’s second national telecoms operator Nawras Telecom has announced its preliminary unaudited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2011. The company said it generated revenue of OMR196.9 million (USD511 million) in 2011, an increase of 4.2% compared to the OMR188.9 million reported the previous year, while turnover for the fourth quarter of 2011 rose 1.8% year-on-year to OMR50.8 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 1.1% year-on-year to OMR103.4 million, and rose 4.3% from OMR25.7 million in Q4 2010 to OMR26.8 million in the corresponding period of 2011. However, Nawras, which is 55%-owned by Qatar Telecom (Qtel), said net profit declined by 5.0% from OMR50.0 million in FY2010 to OMR47.5 million twelve months later, due to higher depreciation and amortisation charges relating to the build out of its fixed and mobile networks. Net profit remained flat for the fourth quarter of the year at OMR11.9 million.
At 31 December 2011 Nawras reported a total of 1.96 million fixed and mobile subscribers, down from 2.033 million a year earlier, due to regulatory changes in the rules for counting its pre-paid wireless customer base, which saw 225,722 of its SIMs disconnected. Accordingly, the company’s pre-paid mobile subscriber base dropped from 1.856 million at the end of 2010 to 1.759 million a year later, while its post-paid wireless customers grew 2.6% year-on-year to 173,274. The firm’s fixed customer base meanwhile increased from 7,753 to 27,175 over the same period. According to Nawras’ CEO Ross Cormack: ‘Roughly one-quarter of our customers now use mobile broadband regularly, with almost 50% connecting by broadband at least once a month. Even so, there is still vast potential for further growth.’