Kuwait-based telecoms group Zain has published its consolidated financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2022, reporting a 7% increase in revenues year-on-year to KWD408 million (USD1.3 billion), while EBITDA decreased 3% annually to KWD154 million. The company booked a net profit of KWD47 million in the three months under review, up 6% y-o-y.
Further, foreign currency translation impact – mainly due to currency devaluations in Sudan and Iraq – cost the group USD120 million in revenue and USD80 million in EBITDA. Zain Group invested USD74 million in CAPEX (6% of revenues), predominantly in 5G rollouts in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain; 4G upgrades and new network sites across its markets; expansion of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure; and spectrum licence fees.
In operational terms, Zain Group reported a consolidated subscription base of 50.9 million at 31 March 2022. In Kuwait subscriptions decreased 4% y-o-y to 2.5 million, while the Saudi Arabian unit reported 8.4 million subscriptions (up 17% y-o-y). Zain Sudan’s subscription base stood at 16.6 million at 31 March, flat y-o-y. Zain Iraq, meanwhile, saw its subscription base increase 9% y-o-y to serve 17.6 million in Q1 2022, while the subscription base in Jordan reached 3.6 million (up 3% y-o-y).
Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, commented: ‘The overall profitable growth and impressive performances in key markets during Q1 2022 reaffirms the success of the 4Sight strategy in driving digital transformation and cost optimisation initiatives. Our operational focus on expanding and monetising our 4G, FTTH and 5G networks has created lucrative revenue streams particularly related to Enterprise (B2B) services to government and businesses of all sizes, a key area we will continue to nurture and expand … The solid performances of our operations in Kuwait and KSA, where net profits increased 22% and 97% respectively, are predominantly on the back of 5G and B2B customer and revenue growth, are extremely pleasing, as is the 156% net profit increase in Sudan where 4G customer uptake combined with currency mitigation related price revamps have positively contributed to all its financial metrics.’