Qatar-based Ooredoo Group has announced its results for the nine months ended 30 September 2016, posting consolidated revenue of QAR24.266 billion (USD6.658 billion), up marginally from QAR24.196 billion in 9M 2015. EBITDA grew by 1% year-on-year to QAR10.156 billion, raising the EBITDA margin by one percentage point to 42%, whilst net profit attributable to Ooredoo shareholders improved by 4% in the nine-month period to QAR1.832 billion. Consolidated customers (predominantly mobile) saw healthy growth of 16% year-on-year to reach 133 million at end-September 2016, driven by strong growth in Indonesia, Myanmar, Oman, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Maldives and Palestine.
Ooredoo noted that it saw revenue growth in the period in local currency terms in Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Algeria, Maldives, Indonesia and Myanmar, and that excluding foreign exchange translation impact, consolidated turnover would have increased by 2%. Elsewhere, the group reported continued strong data growth from consumer and enterprise customers: data revenue increased to QAR9.4 billion in 9M16, or 39% of group revenue, with 4G development continuing apace, as Ooredoo Myanmar was the first to launch LTE services in that country in May 2016, whilst 4G rollout also began in Algeria shortly after the end of the period under review (October 2016). 4G networks are now operating in eight of Ooredoo’s ten mobile markets. Group B2B revenue, meanwhile, reached 17% of group revenue or QAR4.1 billion in the nine months to September, reflecting Ooredoo’s ongoing focus on investment in business customer services.