Batelco, Bahrain’s leading telecom company, today announced gross revenues of BD80.81 million ($214.4 million) and a net profit of BD17.46 million ($46.3 million), for the first quarter of 2011.

The profits are down 16 per cent compared to Q4 FY10, due to competition, regulation and the recent events in Bahrain and losses from an Indian unit, the company said.

Batelco maintained a 45.6 percent share of the local mobile market, although subscribers dropped to 745,000, down 3 percent from the fourth-quarter. Batelco's foreign operations accounted for 37 percent of first-quarter revenue.

“Across the Batelco Group of companies we have grown our customer base to 9.8 million, a further 600,000 customers since Q4 FY10 and a 54 per cent increase since this time last year. However, our group operation continues to be affected by the expected losses in establishing and growing our Indian joint venture, S Tel, and the intensity of competition in Bahrain,” said Batelco chairman Shaikh Hamad Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa.

“Supporting the Kingdom of Bahrain’s 2030 vision remains a priority for Batelco and accordingly we continue to invest in infrastructure and in enhancing our mobile and fixed networks. We expect to complete within weeks a major upgrade of our mobile network expansion programme at an investment of BD14.5 million. This will ensure we deliver very fast, up to 21Mbps wireless data services throughout the Kingdom and enhance coverage and quality of service in newly developed or remote areas,” he added.

Batelco Group chief executive Peter Kaliaropoulos stated: “Batelco’s Q1 results are consistent with market guidance.

“Our gross revenue of BD80.81 million declined 4 per cent against Q4 2010 whilst net revenues of BD63.07 million were flat, quarter-on-quarter. An increase in revenue by Umniah (Jordan) and QualityNet (Kuwait) were offset by competition, regulation and the recent events in the Bahrain market. Our operating profit of BD23.27 million ($61.7 million) declined by 9.4 per cent against Q4 2010 due to increases in operating expenses and staff costs.

“We remain focused on cash management and our cash balance of BD65.88 million grew by 10 per cent year on year. We remain debt free and in a sound position to raise funds for future expansion,” he added.

Kaliaropoulos said even though Batelco faced tough competition in every market it operates in, the group has witnessed growth for both mobile and internet services across all their operations with few exceptions.

Batelco’s operations outside Bahrain contributed 37 per cent of revenues and 27 per cent of EBITDA in Q1 2011. “Impressive performances from our overseas operations have grown the group’s customer base to over 9.8 million. We are confident that we will cross the 10 million subscriber figure by the end of April 2011, just four months behind our original goal of end 2010, set out in 2005,” he said.

“Thanks to customer confidence and top quality, competitively priced products and services, Batelco in Bahrain maintained 45.6 per cent market share in mobiles with a total of 745,000 customer accounts, a decline of 3 per cent versus Q4 FY10.”

In Yemen, Sabafon’s mobile subscriber base has grown to reach over 3.6 million customers while at S Tel in India, the subscriber base has swelled to 2.82 million at the end of Q1 FY11,  Kaliaropoulos said.
Umniah in Jordan has grown its mobile customer base to reach 2.2 million subscribers.

The Group CEO added that the Broadband subscriber base across the group is also growing steadily with an increase of 21 per cent year-on-year.

“Atheeb’s GO Brand for broadband and voice services in Saudi Arabia continues to make inroads and now delivers to over 116,000 customers, representing a 50 per cent rise in their customer base over the course of the past year,” he said.

“In our home market, whilst our Fixed Broadband numbers have declined by 15 per cent, this has been offset with an 89 per cent increase in our Mobile Broadband subscribers, balancing out to a modest 3 per cent growth overall,” he said.

“We continue to meet the challenges delivered by competition and by regulatory measures which restrict our delivery of innovative products and services coupled with best prices, in Bahrain. Accordingly, we have enhanced our Broadband package line-up, rolled out new services for mobile customers and continue to launch new campaigns to support all our customers,” he added.

Kaliaropoulos stated that the group’s growth strategy continues to be an area of priority. “We were pleased to receive acceptance of the non-binding offer made in collaboration with Kingdom Holding Company to acquire 25 per cent of Zain KSA, from the Board of Directors of Zain Kuwait and are proceeding with the process of due diligence. We remain optimistic for a positive outcome for the Kingdom-Batelco Consortium in due course,” he said.

Shaikh Hamad provided an update on Batelco’s CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programme saying that Batelco had entered 2011 focused on several philanthropic initiatives.

“As part of our CSR programme to support health, education, sports and cultural initiatives, we have already paid out over BD200,000 in the first quarter in sponsorships and donations,” he said. – TradeArabia News Service