25 April 2012
MUSCAT -- Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company (Nawras) yesterday reported a 2.7 per cent drop in revenues for the first quarter of this year, which declined to RO 46.8 million from RO 48.1 million a year earlier.
Announcing its unaudited financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2012, Nawras attributed the decline to a reduction in SMS revenues which was not fully compensated by growth in data revenue. In addition, revenue in Q1 2012 included a favourable one-off accounting adjustment of RO 658,000, it said.
EBITDA in Q1 2012 decreased 5.6 per cent to RO 24.1 million, compared to RO 25.6 million in Q1 2011. Net profit for the quarter was RO 9.8 million compared to RO 12.1 million in Q1 2011.
The total number of customers grew by 46,105 customers (2.4 per cent) to 1,988,476 in Q1 2012 compared to 1,942,371 in Q1 2011. The growth came mainly from increases in both fixed services customers and prepaid mobile customers.
The fixed service customer base grew by nearly 273 per cent to 32,857 in Q1 2012 compared to 8,816 for the same period of 2011. The mobile post-paid customer base developed by 2.0 per cent to 171,980 customers compared with 168,659 customers in Q1 2011. The mobile pre-paid customer base for Q1 2012 increased to 1,783,639 customers compared to 1,764,896 customers in Q1 2011 (+1.1 per cent).
Commenting on the results, CEO, Ross Cormack said: "We continue to work in a highly competitive environment here in Oman. However, I am pleased to say that the number of our fixed broadband customers continues to grow significantly year on year at a rate of 273 per cent. Furthermore we are now starting to see our mobile customer base and number of active customer also growing.
Early in Q1 2012, we revamped our VOIP service for fixed as well as mobile customers, resulting in real growth in our international calls. That was followed closely with a demonstration of our 4G LTE service capabilities at the Muscat Grand Mall, a culmination of our testing in the field.
Muscat Grand Mall is now the home of our new Nawras Campus, bringing the company together again. We are already seeing the efficiency benefits of closer teams and work flow synergies due to this move.
In March 2012 we successfully refinanced our existing loan facilities which enhanced our financial flexibility and lowered our funding costs," Cormack added
MUSCAT -- Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company (Nawras) yesterday reported a 2.7 per cent drop in revenues for the first quarter of this year, which declined to RO 46.8 million from RO 48.1 million a year earlier.
Announcing its unaudited financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2012, Nawras attributed the decline to a reduction in SMS revenues which was not fully compensated by growth in data revenue. In addition, revenue in Q1 2012 included a favourable one-off accounting adjustment of RO 658,000, it said.
EBITDA in Q1 2012 decreased 5.6 per cent to RO 24.1 million, compared to RO 25.6 million in Q1 2011. Net profit for the quarter was RO 9.8 million compared to RO 12.1 million in Q1 2011.
The total number of customers grew by 46,105 customers (2.4 per cent) to 1,988,476 in Q1 2012 compared to 1,942,371 in Q1 2011. The growth came mainly from increases in both fixed services customers and prepaid mobile customers.
The fixed service customer base grew by nearly 273 per cent to 32,857 in Q1 2012 compared to 8,816 for the same period of 2011. The mobile post-paid customer base developed by 2.0 per cent to 171,980 customers compared with 168,659 customers in Q1 2011. The mobile pre-paid customer base for Q1 2012 increased to 1,783,639 customers compared to 1,764,896 customers in Q1 2011 (+1.1 per cent).
Commenting on the results, CEO, Ross Cormack said: "We continue to work in a highly competitive environment here in Oman. However, I am pleased to say that the number of our fixed broadband customers continues to grow significantly year on year at a rate of 273 per cent. Furthermore we are now starting to see our mobile customer base and number of active customer also growing.
Early in Q1 2012, we revamped our VOIP service for fixed as well as mobile customers, resulting in real growth in our international calls. That was followed closely with a demonstration of our 4G LTE service capabilities at the Muscat Grand Mall, a culmination of our testing in the field.
Muscat Grand Mall is now the home of our new Nawras Campus, bringing the company together again. We are already seeing the efficiency benefits of closer teams and work flow synergies due to this move.
In March 2012 we successfully refinanced our existing loan facilities which enhanced our financial flexibility and lowered our funding costs," Cormack added
© Oman Daily Observer 2012
