Revenue at Qatar-based Ooredoo Group reached QAR15.914 billion (USD4.366 billion) in the first six months of 2016, as growth in Qatar, Oman, Indonesia, Myanmar, Algeria, Kuwait, Palestine and the Maldives drove a 2% rise in group sales in local currency terms, but foreign exchange effects caused a reported currency revenue decline of 1%. The group’s total customer base increased by 14% year-on-year to 130 million at 30 June 2016, driven by strong mobile growth in Indonesia and Myanmar. Group EBITDA rose marginally from QAR6.456 billion in H1 2015 to QAR6.478 billion a year later, with an improved EBITDA margin of 41% in 1H16, up one percentage point. Group net profit attributable to Ooredoo shareholders increased by 46% to QAR1.462 billion, driven by strong contributions from Indonesia, Myanmar and Algeria, supported by positive forex movements.
Underlying data revenue increased to 39% (QAR6.2 billion) of consolidated revenue in H1 2016 (H1 2015: 34%), whilst B2B revenue increased by 5% to QAR2.8 billion reflecting Ooredoo’s ongoing investment in services for business customers. Recent developments highlighted by Ooredoo include its market-first launch of 4G LTE in Myanmar (May 2016) and pre-commercial LTE phase finalised in Algeria (July 2016), whilst 4G networks are now operated in eight of Ooredoo’s ten main markets.