Omantel posts 4% decline in H1 group revenue, EBITDA

Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel), the Sultanate’s incumbent telecoms operator, has announced its preliminary unaudited financial results for first half of 2021. The group reported revenue of OMR1.194 billion (USD3.09 billion), a decrease of 4% from OMR1.242 billion a year earlier, as domestic turnover fell 8% to OMR265.7 million due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Group EBITDA also declined by 4% year-on-year to OMR480.0 million in H2 2021, while group net profit rose 8% from OMR100.5 million in the first half of 2020 to OMR108.6 million a year later. Domestic net profit jumped 14% year-on-year to OMR36.1 million, mainly due to the realisation of a higher margin on capacity sales, impressive growth in post-paid mobile and fixed broadband revenue, and further supplemented by a reduction in operation and maintenance costs on account of proactive cost optimisation measures.