Saudi Mobily announces $2bn capital increase
Riyadh, February 9, 2013
Shareholders of Saudi Arabia's second largest telecoms company Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) have approved its decision to raise the firm's capital by 10 per cent to SR7.7 billion ($2.05 billion), it said in a bourse statement on Saturday.
The company enjoyed surging profit growth last quarter, outperforming analyst forecasts with net earnings of $501 million, even as net income at its main competitor, Saudi Telecom Company, dropped.
Mobily is aiming to focus on growing revenue from data and corporate customers, its chief executive told Reuters last month.
The capital increase will be made through the issuance of bonus shares to existing shareholders who were registered with the company at the end of trading on Jan. 20, it said.
In another development, the Saudi company said it had clocked a new world record when its giant LTE network broke through 400 Terabytes a day in term of the volume of data transmission.
The new record comes to exceed the data volume that was registered over the company’s 3G network which was commercially launched in 2006.
Mobily said the new record was registered in a short period of time thanks to the huge coverage of its LTE network and hitech infrastructure.
Mobily’s 400 Terabytes achievement will be internationally recognized when “Huawei” the global leading company in providing next generation telecommunications networks, honors Mobily during the 2013 Mobile World Congress to be held in Barcelona on February 25.
“Achieving this volume of data came in parallel with delivering the highest standards of quality in customers’ products and services. Mobily is committed to maintain its leadership in data and to develop its infrastructure,” remarked Mobily’s CEO Khalid Omar Al Kaf.
“We believe that growth sustainability comes with the right vision and our GED strategy drives Mobily to continue in the right track,” he added.
Al Kaf highlighted the importance of adopting with the telecom sector transformation by creating new methodologies and techniques.
He said that Mobily is working by its extreme capacity to be a leading and innovative company in its products, solutions and customers experience.
According to him, Mobily was the first telecom company in the Mena to launch the TD-LTE commercially before the company announced another World’s achievement as it signed 4G data roaming agreements.
Mobily’s LTE network covers now more than 4500 sites through its data subsidiary Bayanat Al Oula.
The company had last month awarded a SR963 million contract to Ericson and Huawei for expansion and upgrade of Mobily 3G and LET network across the Kingdom.-Reuters and TradeArabia News Service
