Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel), the Sultanate’s incumbent telecoms operator, has announced its unaudited financial results for the first half of 2019, including the effect of fully-consolidated Zain Group results. Omantel has posted group revenue of OMR1.26 billion (USD3.3 billion) for H1 2019, compared to OMR914.2 million a year earlier, mainly due to the consolidation of Zain’s revenue, while turnover from domestic operations fell 7% year-on-year to OMR259.8 million. Group EBITDA rose by 72% to OMR539.5 million in the first six months of 2019, while net profit grew 25% from OMR101.0 million in H1 2018 to OMR126.5 million a year later, thanks to strong performance in key markets of Zain Group, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Domestic profit declined 9% year-on-year to OMR39.2 million, mainly due to a fall in mobile pre-paid revenues despite an increase in data consumption.
‘We are delighted with these results which clearly reflect the importance and success of our strategic investment in Zain Group that serves around 50 million customers in the region,’ commented CEO Talal Said Al Mamari, adding: ‘Zain Group performance has enabled us not only to offset the decline witnessed in the domestic operations but rather to grow our revenues and net profits to new record levels.’