Oman-based telecom operator Nawras has registered a 22.1 per cent drop in its net profit for 2012 which fell to RO37 million from RO47.5 million a year ago owing to lower Ebitda and higher depreciation partially offset by lower interest cost.

A Qatar Telecom Group company, Nawras said its full year revenue dropped 1.7 per cent to RO193.5 million in 2012 from RO196.9 million the previous year. The decline in revenue was primarily driven by a reduction in SMS and on net voice revenue, partially offset by growth in both mobile and fixed data revenues, said a statement from Nawras.

The ebitda achieved in the fourth quarter was RO26.2 million compared to RO26.8 million in the same period last year. The year-to-date ebitda declined by 8.2 per cent to RO94.9 million over RO103.4 million in 2011.

Ebitda for 2012 was affected by lower revenue as well as increase in cost of sales due to increased international minutes.

According to Nawras, the net profit for the fourth quarter too registered a 13.4 per cent drop hitting RO10.3 million compared to RO11.9 million for the same quarter in 2011.

However, Nawars reported its highest ever quarterly revenue in the fourth quarter. The telecom group's revenue grew by 1.2 per cent to RO51.4 million, for the fourth quarter, from RO50.8 million for the same period last year.

The growth was supported by fixed and mobile data and international voice revenue partially offset by drop in SMS, it added.

Commenting on the results, chairman Sayyid Amjad Al Busaidi said, "Our focus in 2012 was on new customer-driven initiatives; delivering the technology to increase customer choice and to bring telecoms, media and data to a larger percentage of our population. We also made substantial investments in people training and development."

Nawras, he stated, has maintained its unwavering commitment to investing in the best available technology for the benefit of customers.

"This is a cornerstone of the company’s operational strategy and will continue into 2013 and beyond. Efforts to re-energise our focus on customer experience," he noted.

The fixed service customer base grew by nearly 62.9 per cent to 44,261 in 2012 compared to 27,175 at the end of 2011. The mobile post-paid customer base developed by 3.4 per cent to 179,182 compared to 173,274 customers in 2011.

The mobile pre-paid customer base increased by 11.9 per cent from 1,759,787 in 2011 to 1,969,586 in 2012.

"The customer numbers continued their upward trend in the year 2012, resulting in the best acquisition figures since 2010. We now have nearly 2.2 million customers, an increase of more than 11 per cent on 2011," remarked Nawras CEO Ross Cormack.

"The comprehensive market research and analysis we did during 2012 has given us the ability to develop strategies for customer acquisition and retention, a key advantage in a market that is set to become much more competitive, and to focus even more on making our customer experience dynamic, pleasurable and different," he said.

"Our network Turbocharging programme began in August and we successfully introduced the latest technology in all base stations from Al Bustan to Musannah. This upgrade increased 3G+ capacity as well as offering doubled speeds and greater coverage," said Ross.

"The upgraded network sends more broadband data across a much wider spectrum and faster to give a richer experience and higher quality service for all customers in these areas," he added.-TradeArabia News Service