MUSCAT -- Oman Telecommunications Company SAOG (Omantel) yesterday announced its preliminary financial results for 2011, showing an increase in both revenues and net profit of 8.6 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively. The company's revenue has increased to RO 453 million as of December 31, 2011 compared to RO 417 of the corresponding period of 2010 while the net profit has reached RO 113 million compared to RO 110 in 2010.
On a quarter over quarter basis, for the period ended December 2011, the revenue has increased by 18 per cent to RO 120 million, compared to RO 101 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the net profit has increased by 10 per cent to RO 30 million compared to RO 27 million for the corresponding period of 2010.
Omantel says that 2011 was a challenging yet successful year for the company that saw an increase in the number of total subscribers rising to 3.530 million -- an increase of 6 per cent which includes subscribers of its subsidiary company Worldcall Telecommunications Limited (WTL). Worldcall's individual subscriber base grew by 7 per cent in the previous year.
Omantel Mobile -- the company's mobile business arm -- continued to see remarkable growth of approximately 7 per cent with the number of customers reaching 2.28 million making Omantel Mobile again the fastest growing mobile operator in the Sultanate for the second consecutive year.
Including Resellers, the Omantel Mobile network customers, increased by 13 per cent to a total 2.82 million at the end of December 2011. The Company's mobile network market share has increased to 58 per cent. The total domestic revenues recorded a growth of more than 8 per cent year over year despite the challenging situation in Oman following market liberalization and the launch of fixed services by the other operator.
All three business segments -- Fixed, Mobile and Wholesale have contributed to this growth. Commenting on the results, Omantel Chief Executive Officer Dr Amer Awadh al Rawas said: "Omantel is delighted with the results we have achieved for 2011 that have seen the company make significant strides in growing subscriber base and ensuring our customers benefit from the transformation that Oman Mobile and Omantel undertook since 2009.
"We have continued to make significant investments in our networks to ensure that our consumer and corporate customers benefit from the country's most comprehensive network coverage. The investments we made in extending the reach of our 3.5G network with approximately 1000 sites and migration to Next Generation Network along with increased HR costs have driven the increase in expenses by 11 per cent.
The network investments resulted in increased number of mobile and fixed broadband customers which have grown by 51 per cent and 16 per cent respectively as of December 2011 compared to the same period of 2010," Dr Amer added. "The strategic plan to bring our subsidiary in Pakistan "WorldCall" to profit has been fruitful and we are delighted that the company has been able not only to reach the break-even point but also to make profit of $ 3.4 million despite the tough market conditions in Pakistan," Dr Amer concluded.
Omantel is the leading telecommunications company in Oman and has successfully connected different parts of the Omani community to each other and with the rest of the world through a modern fixed, mobile and Internet services.
© Oman Daily Observer 2012
