Qatari telecoms group Ooredoo reported a year-on-year revenue decline of 1% to QAR7.197 billion (USD1.959 billion) in Q1 2021 largely due to a negative FX impact, while excluding currency effects it said that revenues rose 1% despite the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly driven by growth in its domestic market and in Indonesia. It also noted that revenues remained under pressure due to ‘a soft macroeconomic environment’ in many of its markets, while data revenues accounted for more than 55% of the total.
Group EBITDA increased by 6% y-o-y to QAR3.213 billion in January-March 2021 as the company maintained a focus on digitalisation and cost optimisation. EBITDA margin increased to 45% in Q1 2021 from 41% in Q1 2020, supported by EBITDA margin expansion in Indonesia, Kuwait, Iraq and Myanmar. Excluding FX impact EBITDA increased by 9%. Quarterly group net profit attributable to Ooredoo shareholders decreased by 50% y-o-y to QAR193 million in Q1 2021 mainly due to FX impact particularly from Myanmar. Consolidated group customers were reported at 118 million at 31 March 2021, roughly flat y-o-y.
Ooredoo Qatar reported a 0.6% y-o-y rise in revenue to QAR1.8 billion, with EBITDA falling slightly to QAR962 million (Q1 2020: QAR966 million), while EBTIDA margin reached 54% (1Q20: 55%). Qatari customer numbers were reported at around 3.0 million (1Q20: 3.2 million).