Qtel net income climbs 20.5% on 18.2% turnover increase

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has posted its consolidated group financial and operational results for 2009, with net profit attributable to shareholders increasing 20.5% to QAR2.8 billion (USD765 million) in the full-year, up from QAR2.3 billion in 2008. Total annual revenue rose by 18.2% to QAR24.0 billion, up from QAR20.3 billion the previous year. EBITDA performance in 2009 was also strong, increasing 15.1 percent over the year to QAR 11.3 billion (FY 2008: QAR 9.8 billion). EBITDA margin remained resilient during the period, standing at 47% (48%).

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At 31 December 2009 the group’s consolidated customer base stood at 60.5 million. In Qatar it saw a 23.5% year-on-year increase in subscribers to 2.40 million at end-2009 (end-2008: 1.95 million) and a 4.4% rise in revenue to QAR5.7 billion (FY 2008: QAR5.4 billion). Domestic EBITDA was impacted by the entrance of Qtel’s first mobile competitor, Vodafone Qatar, and fell to QAR3.3 billion (2008: QAR3.4 billion).

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Indonesian unit Indosat removed ‘a significant proportion of the lower-value, calling card type behaviour subscribers’ from its base over the twelve-month period, and as a result, Indosat’s subscriber base at end-December 2009 stood at 33.7 million, down from 37.0 million a year earlier. At the same time, Indosat continued to invest in expanding its reach to new areas outside of its Java core, with the successful launch of the Palapa-D satellite system and Jakabare submarine cable, as well as enhancing its capacity to support new, value-added services. Revenue for the twelve months ended December 2009 was QAR6.6 billion (FY 2008 post-acquisition: QAR4.2 billion) and EBITDA for the same period was QAR3.2 billion (FY 2008 post-acquisition: QAR2.1 billion).

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Asiacell Iraq increased its total active subscribers by 20.4% during 2009 to close the year at 7.35 million (2008: 6.11 million). As a result, Asiacell’s revenue increased during the year by 40.4% to QAR4.0 billion (FY 2008: QAR2.8 billion). EBITDA also increased, growing 43.9% to QAR2.2 billion (FY 2008: QAR1.5 billion).