Telecom Lead Asia: Qatar Telecom, which renamed itself ooredoo last week, has reported Q4 revenue of QAR8.71 billion compared with 8.19 billion a year ago.
ooredoo reported 14.6 per cent rise in Q4 2012 profit to 523 million riyals versus 456 million riyals a year earlier.
Full-year group revenue reached QAR33.7 billion, up 6.2 per cent from 2011.
Ooredoo’s net profit for 2012 was QAR2.94 billion against QAR2.61 billion in 2011.
The increase in revenue was primarily due to higher revenue in its home market, Indonesia and Iraq though it posted lower earnings from Kuwaiti unit Wataniya and Oman’s Nawras.
Ooredoo operates in 16 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Full-year domestic revenue rose 9 percent to exceed QAR6 billion, while revenue from Indonesia unit Indosat increased 3 percent to QAR8.8 billion.
Ooredoo has several operating subsidiaries.
Asiacell’s full-year revenue rose 15.9 per cent to QAR6.9 billion from a year earlier.
Wataniya reported a 26.5 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profit last month that it blamed on tougher competition at home and foreign exchange losses in Tunisia and Algeria.
In January, Omani subsidiary Nawras posted a fourth straight decline in quarterly profit as falling revenue from texts and on-network calls weighed on its bottom line.
Meanwhile, the company has initiated a major modernisation programme across its core network and is investing for the future to deliver high speed broadband as new frequencies and new technologies open up.
ooredoo has been at the forefront of delivering life-enhancing mobile services, such as mLearning in Tunisia to support young people’s economic empowerment and mWomen programmes in Iraq and Indonesia.
ooredoo is also providing relevant services to customers who cannot afford smartphones and working with the GSMA to develop more intuitive devices to overcome literacy barriers.
