Telecom services provider Ooredoo Oman reported a 1.2 per cent increase in revenues for the first nine months of 2017, which grew to RO 204.3 million compared with RO 201.9 million in 2016. The growth is driven by increases in both mobile and fixed data revenue, the company said in a filing to the Capital Market Authority (CMA).
EBITDA for the nine months of the year stood at RO 112.6 million compared to RO 112.9 million for the nine months of 2016. EBITDA for 2017 was marginally impacted by higher customer acquisition cost associated with increase in customer base which has grown by 3.9 per cent in total and 28.9 per cent for fixed.
Net profit for the nine months of 2017 was RO 23.1 million compared with RO 37.6 million in the same period of 2016.
Net profit for 2017 was impacted by the increase in royalty fee from 7 per cent to 12 per cent, an increase in income tax rate from 12 per cent to 15 per cent, as well as higher depreciation cost due to investment in network modernisation.
Total number of customers grew by 3.9 per cent, to be 3,033,151 at the end of the nine months of 2017 compared to 2,920,135 for the same period of 2016.
The fixed service customer base increased by 28.9 per cent to 108,277 customers in Q3 2017 compared to 84,006 in the same period 2016. The mobile post-paid customer base grew by 3.7 per cent to 223,607 customers compared with 215,729 customers in Q3 2016.
The mobile pre-paid customer base for Q3 2017 increased by 3.1 per cent to 2,701,267 customers compared to 2,620,400 customers for the same period of last year.
Commenting on the results, CEO of Ooredoo Oman, Ian Dench (pictured), said: “We want our customers to enjoy the Internet. This Quarter we started the most significant ever network upgrade in our history.
With over 1,000 new 4G locations being added between June 2017 and quarter one 2018, the upgrade will see our 4G coverage rise from 55 per cent to over 90 per cent of the population. Our ongoing network upgrades and roll-out of our fibre for both homes and businesses also means that more customers across Oman receive a fantastic customer experience.”
“Our revenue performance in the quarter, driven by mobile and fixed data demand, reaffirms our focus on data experience leadership, delivering market leading products and propositions for both consumers and businesses.”
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