• The first to launch e-learning solutions to support the Educational System in Kuwait 

Kuwait, Kuwait City: Ooredoo Kuwait announces its third quarter financial result for the year of 2020, taking pride of its ongoing improvements which allows the company to sustain its strong position in the market. Ooredoo Kuwait also witnessed a multi-fold increase in digital user numbers and digital sales backed up by an easy to use Ooredoo App. Furthermore, Ooredoo enabled students in Kuwait to access distance learning platforms using its strong network and took the lead in launching competitive “Back to School” offers & products to support the online education for all students.

Ooredoo expanded and upgraded the network in Kuwait ensuring an uninterrupted learning journey for students in every grade. With increased internet demand during current pandemic, Ooredoo stepped up to the plate by expanding network capacity specifically supporting businesses working-from-home where employees got used to the new normal of staying indoors. Ooredoo in Kuwait launched attractive 5G offers to enable customers to experience a whole digital lifestyle which resulted in a greatly diverse increase in the 5G customer base as well as the digital sales.

Ooredoo Kuwait Revenues were KWD 155.4 million at 9M 2020, compared to KWD 169.7 million for the same period in 2019 and EBITDA KWD 40.6 million at 9M 2020 compared to KWD 53.1 million for the same period in 2019. Ooredoo Kuwait offered special benefits for workers in the ministries and governmental organizations to support their efforts in fighting crisis and free 5GB data a day and unlimited local calls for all its customers, during the COVID-19 crisis.

Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani, Chairman of the Board of Directors commented: “During this challenging period, we focused on providing uninterrupted connectivity for all our customers, while supporting our employees and the wider community through innovative services and access to data. In Kuwait, we became the first telecommunications company to launch an e-learning solution to support schools across the country and witnessed also a multi-fold increase in digital user numbers and digital sales backed up by an easy to use Ooredoo App. In Tunisia we supported hospitals and confinement centers with free data access throughout the pandemic.

As we refocused our efforts on expanding our digital customer acquisition and care channels, we maintained a healthy consolidated customer base of 25.3 million at the end of the first nine months of 2020 compared with 26.8 million for the same period last year.

However, as with the telecom sector globally, our financial results for the first nine months of 2020 were impacted by the pandemic and resulting economic slowdown, which further deteriorated economic conditions in some of our markets of operations. NMTC reported revenues of KWD 441.7 million during the first nine months of 2020, down 6% compared to the same period last year. The decline in revenue flowed through to our EBITDA and Net Profit.

Ooredoo Kuwait witnessed an increase of 8% improvement in EBIDTA and a 2% in customer base in Q3 2020 compared to Q2 2020, reflecting a gradual recovery from the Covid-19 situation. In Kuwait, we continued to invest in our digital strategy and expanded our 5G offering to serve our customer base of 2.4 million users. In Tunisia our revenues grew 4% to KWD 94.7 million for 9M 2020 compared to the same period last year, despite a challenging economic backdrop.

Our performance in Algeria continued to be impacted by challenging economic conditions, intense price competition and currency depreciation as the Algerian Dinar depreciated by 4% year on year.

In Palestine, our focus on efficiency and cost optimisation continued to deliver results. EBITDA increased 19% during the first nine months of 2020 compared to the same period last year to KWD 7.7 million.

In Maldives we continued to develop our enterprise offering with the launch of Ooredoo Centribiz, a simplified, managed telephony solution for small enterprises.” 

Financial Highlights: 

  • Consolidated customer base decreased by 6% to 25.3 million in the nine months ended 30 September 2020, compared to 26.8 million for the same period in 2019.
  • Revenues in KWD were impacted by lower sales in Kuwait (substantial support for local customers free of charge), a decrease in Algerian revenue mainly due to the weak economic environment, currency devaluation, price competition and the impact of the Corona virus and related business limitations across all operations. Consequently, consolidated revenue decreased by 6% to KWD 441.7 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2020, compared to KWD 470.0 million for the same period in 2019.
  • EBITDA decreased by 13% for the nine months ended 30 September 2020 to KWD 151.6 million, compared to KWD 174.4 million for the same period in 2019.
  • Net profit attributable to NMTC was KWD 5.9 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2020 compared with KWD 23.5 million for the same period in 2019, due to the decline in EBITDA
  • The consolidated earnings per share was 11.7 fils for the nine months ended 30 September 2020, compared to 46.9 fils per share earned for the same period last year.

Review of Operations

The Group’s operational performance can be summarized as follows:

Ooredoo – Kuwait operations

  • Ooredoo Kuwait Revenues were KWD 155.4 million at 9M 2020, compared to KWD 169.7 million for the same period in 2019 and EBITDA KWD 40.6 million at 9M 2020 compared to KWD 53.1 million for the same period in 2019. Ooredoo Kuwait offered special benefits for workers in the ministries and governmental organizations to support their efforts in fighting crisis and free 5GB data a day and unlimited local calls for all its customers, during the COVID-19 crisis. Ooredoo Kuwait also witnessed a multi-fold increase in digital user numbers and digital sales backed up by an easy to use Ooredoo App. Furthermore, Ooredoo enabled students in Kuwait to access distance learning platforms using its strong network and took the lead in launching competitive “Back to School” offers & products to support the online education for all students. Ooredoo expanded and upgraded the network in Kuwait ensuring an uninterrupted learning journey for students in every grade. With increased internet demand during current pandemic, Ooredoo stepped up to the plate by expanding network capacity specifically supporting businesses working-from-home where employees got used to the new normal of staying indoors. Ooredoo in Kuwait launched attractive 5G offers to enable customers to experience a whole digital lifestyle which resulted in a greatly diverse increase in the 5G customer base as well as the digital sales.

Ooredoo – Tunisia

Ooredoo’s customer base in Tunisia decreased to 8.8 million customers at 9M 2020 (9M 2019 9.1 million). Revenues increased by 4% to reach KWD 94.7 million at 9M 2020 compared to KWD 91.5 million for the same period in 2019. EBITDA was KWD 41.6 million at 9M 2020 compared to KWD 43.7 million for the same period in 2019.

Ooredoo – Algeria

Customer base in Algeria decreased to 12.3 million at 9M 2020 compared to 13.4 million for the same period in 2019. Business in Algeria was negatively impacted by the devaluation of the Algerian Dinar, a weak economic environment and intense price competition. Consequently, revenues decreased to KWD 142.1 million at 9M 2020, compared to KWD 157.3 million for the same period in 2019. EBITDA was KWD 48.5 million at 9M 2020, down from KWD 55.3 million for the same period in 2019. Algerian Dinar depreciated by 4% year on year.

Ooredoo – Palestine

Customer base in Palestine increased by 3% to reach 1.3 million customers at 9M 2020. Revenue increased by 4% to KWD 23.1 million at 9M 2020, compared to KWD 22.2 million for the same period in 2019. EBITDA was strong, increasing 19% to KWD 7.7 million at 9M 2020, compared to KWD 6.5 million for the same period in 2019, driven by operational efficiencies across the business.

Ooredoo - Maldives

Ooredoo Maldives reported a 10% decrease in revenues to KWD 26.3 million at 9M 2020, compared to KWD 29.3 million for the same period in 2019. EBITDA was KWD 13.1 million at 9M 2020 compared to KWD 16.0 million for the same period in 2019. Ooredoo Maldives now serves a total of 354k customers.

For more information, please visit www.ooredoo.com.kw 

-Ends-

About Ooredoo Kuwait:

Ooredoo Kuwait was established in December 1999 as the second operator in the country. Today, since then, the company offers mobile, broadband internet and corporate managed services tailored to the needs of customers and businesses. The company operates number of telecom operators in the region: Ooredoo Algeria, Ooredoo Tunis, Ooredoo Maldives, and Ooredoo Palestine. Ooredoo Kuwait is a member of the international Ooredoo Group based in Doha, Qatar. 

Get in touch:
Public Relation – Ooredoo Kuwait
PO Box 613, Safat 13007, Kuwait

Fatemah Dashti
Senior Manager- Public Relations
fdashti@ooredoo.com.kw 

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