The majority state-owned Omantel has posted a decline in the Group’s revenue for the first quarter of 2021, which slid to RO 602.7 million this year, compared to RO 651 million for the corresponding period of 2020.
The Group revenue includes acquired business of Zain Group, which contributed revenues of RO 473.3 million for the quarter, the telecom services provider said in the Board of Directors’ report for the period.
Revenue from Omantel’s domestic operations totalled RO 131.4 million, down from RO 153.3 million for the corresponding period of 2020.
Revenues growth achieved in Mobile Postpaid, Fixed Broadband, and Wholesale Capacity Sale have contributed in managing the gross margin for Q1 2021, despite a fall in Wholesale Hubbing, Mobile Prepaid and Device revenues due to challenging market conditions, the report noted.
The Group’s total operating expenses decreased to RO 505.4 million compared to RO 541.6 million for the corresponding period 2020, a decrease of 6.7 per cent.
Omantel’s domestic operations managed to reduce its operating and administrative expenses by 7.5 per cent YoY, which is mainly resulting from the Cost Optimisation measures, it noted.
The Group achieved an after tax Net Profit of RO 56 million compared to RO 62.5 million in 2020.
In Oman, the telecom firm recorded a net profit of RO 19.1 million, representing a growth of 11.5 per cent in comparison with the Year 2020 performance.
“This is mainly due to realisation of higher margin on capacity sales and reduction in operating and administrative expenses resulting from proactive cost optimisation measures,” it explained.
Group Earning per Share (EPS) for the period ended March 2021 is RO 0.022 compared to RO 0.021 for the corresponding period of year 2020.
The total domestic subscriber base as of March 2021 (including mobile and fixed businesses) was 3.2 million (excluding Mobile Resellers) compared to 3.3 million for the corresponding period of the previous year, recording a decline of 2.8 per cent over the last period. Total subscriber base with mobile resellers reached 3.8 million.
Omantel subsidiary Mobile Telecommunication Company (Zain) recorded a drop of 5.7 per cent in Group revenues, which reached RO 473.3 million as of March 2021 compared to the corresponding period revenues of RO 501.9 million.
EBITDA stands at RO 195.9 million, recording a decline of 6.5 per cent. Net profit stands at RO 59.5 million compared to RO 68.1 million of the previous period.
The total customer base of Zain Group decreased by 2.9 per cent to 48.5 million compared to 50 million for the previous period.
Omantel’s Mobile market share (including Mobile Resellers) is 52.4 per cent with a revenue share of 58.4 per cent.
The Fixed Telephone (post & pre-paid) market share is 70.2 per cent with a revenue market share of 79 per cent.
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