Wataniya aims to boost income from internet services

Kuwaiti telecoms group Wataniya is targeting an increase in revenues from data services in order to improve its earnings in a highly competitive market. The firm’s chief executive, Bassam Hannoun, wants internet services to provide a quarter of revenue within two years, Reuters reports, up from less than 20% currently. Hannoun told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai: ‘The market in Kuwait is highly competitive, but it’s also a high value market, so the opportunities are still there. Kuwait has a lot more to give.’ Wataniya, which is 92.1%-owned by Qtel of Qatar, claimed 1.94 million mobile subscribers and a 37.5% share of Kuwait’s cellular market at the end of June 2012, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database.