Nawras reports OMR7.7M profit

Times News Service MUSCAT: Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company (Nawras) said its net profit for the first quarter of 2013 fell by 21.4 per cent to OMR7.7 million from OMR9.8 million posted for the same period last year. Net profit was affected by higher depreciation due to network modernisation, the company said.

Revenues for the first quarter of 2013 grew by three per cent to OMR48.2 million from OMR46.8 million for the same period last year. “The growth is driven by increases in both fixed and mobile data revenue as well as international voice revenue offset by a decrease in SMS and national voice revenue,” the statement added. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the first quarter of 2013 was OMR23.2 million compared with OMR24.2 million.

Nawras said its fixed service customer base increased by 57 per cent to 51,532 customers by end-March, 2013 from 32,857 for the same period of 2012. The mobile post-paid customer base grew by 5.9 per cent to 182,090 customers compared with 171,980 customers. The mobile pre-paid customer base during the first quarter of 2013 increased by 12.2 per cent to 2,000,831 compared to 1,783,639 for the same period last year.

During the quarter, Nawras also signed a new financing agreement of OMR70 million, followed by two additional bilateral revolving credit facility agreements worth OMR20 million to efficiently support ongoing network investment and working capital requirements.

“We started the network Turbocharging programme in order to increase speed, extend capacity and provide wider coverage giving our customers a more rewarding experience. Initial feedback from customers in upgraded areas has been very positive and helped us to achieve positive customer and revenue growth in the quarter. These results were bolstered by further improvements in our customer care service levels, with our Champions helping to resolve customer issues in a faster and more satisfactory manner. Looking towards our future, we were also pleased to announce the launch of 4G LTE service adding another exciting Nawras milestone,” said Ross Cormack, CEO of the company.