Nawras Announces Financial Results for Nine Months to 30 September 2013

Nawras announces Q3 net profit and total customer numbers increase by 11%

Mobilk - Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company SAOG (“Nawras”) today announced unaudited financial results for the nine month period ended 30 September 2013.

Financial Highlights:

Operational Highlights:

• Total revenues for the first nine months of 2013 increased by 5.0% and amounted to OMR 149.2 million compared to OMR 142.1 million for the same period last year. The increase in revenue is driven by data and fixed revenues, offset partially by SMS.

• EBITDA for the nine months ending 30 September 2013 grew by 4.1% to OMR 71.5 million compared with OMR 68.7 million for the same period last year driven by revenue growth.

• As of 30 September 2013, total net profit was OMR 23.1 million compared to OMR 26.7 million last year. Despite higher EBITDA, net profit was affected by higher depreciation due to the investment in network modernisation.

• Total number of customers grew by 10.9% or 231,644 to 2,360,609 compared with 2,128,965 for the nine months ending 30 September 2012. 

• The fixed service customer base increased by nearly 61% to 61,090 from 38,018 for the same period of 2012. The mobile post-paid customer base was up 5.3% to 187,163 customers compared with 177,747 for the same period last year. The year to date the mobile pre-paid customer base increased by 10.4% to 2,112,356 compared to 1,913,200 for the same period in 2012.

Commenting on the results, the Chairman Sayyed Amjad Al Busaidi said:

“We are delighted to continue delivering noticeable differences in the broadband internet experience for our customers as we successfully move from one stage to the next of our Network Turbocharging programme. Countrywide turbocharging will continue in phases until all Nawras base station technology has been replaced. We are investing in the future of broadband in the Sultanate by adding the latest communications technology, upgrading the core network, installing many new base stations and activating two new data carriers to  more than double capacity, speeds and also greatly improve indoor coverage. Stage two of the Network Turbocharging programme is now underway as Nawras continues to proof the network from end to end, in order to deliver a pleasingly different customer experience for people in the Sultanate of Oman.

Results of a survey, carried out at the end of the initial phase of the Turbocharging programme, show the positive impact of the network changes and also that customers are now using the faster broadband services more often and for longer. This is reflected in the Q3 2013 results, which show an increase in revenue and net profit of 8.3% and 11.1% respectively.During the quarter, we also achieved another milestone in our Turbocharging programmeby successfully launching a new Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Bausher, to provide advanced quality control and rapid response in support of a strong and resilient network.”