Nawras Q3 net profit, customer base up 11%

Omani telecoms operator Nawras has posted revenues of OMR50.8 million (USD131.6 million) for the three months ended 30 September 2013, an increase of 8.3% from OMR46.9 million in the year-ago quarter, while nine-month revenues rose 5.0% year-on-year to OMR149.2 million, thanks to higher data and fixed revenues, offset partially by declines in SMS turnover. Revenue growth drove up EBITDA to OMR24.5 million in Q3 2013 and OMR71.5 million in 9M13, up by 17.8% and 4.1% respectively. Despite higher EBITDA, net profit of OMR23.1 million for the first nine months of the year was 13.5% lower than in the year-ago period, attributed to higher depreciation due to the investment in network modernisation, though quarterly net profit was up 11.1% from OMR7.2 million in 3Q12 to OMR8.0 million a year later. Nawras, which is majority owned by Qatar’s Ooredoo, said that customers totalled 2.36 million at 30 September 2013, an increase of 10.9% from a year earlier. The fixed service customer base rose by nearly 61% to 61,090, while mobile subscribers reached 2.299 million, of which 187,163 were post-paid users (up 5.3%) and 2.112 million pre-paid (up 10.4%).