Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company (Ooredoo Oman) has posted a net profit of RO29.5 million ($76.4 million) for the first nine months of the year as against RO23.1 million ($59.8 million) in the same period of 2013.

The rise of 27.7 per cent was due to an improvement in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), a statement said.

Total revenues for the first nine months of 2014 grew by 11.3 per cent to RO166.1 million ($430 million) compared with RO149.2 million ($386 million) for the same period in 2013. The growth is driven by increases in both mobile and fixed data revenue as well as international voice revenue.

EBITDA for the nine month period was RO87.9 million ($227.6 million) compared with RO71.1 million ($184 million) for the first nine months of2013 and this was driven by higher revenue.

The total number of customers grew by 6.5 per cent during the first nine months of 2014, up from 2,360,609 to 2,514,231.

The fixed service customer base decreased by 2.4 per cent to 59,630 customers in the first nine months of 2014 compared to 61,090 for the same period of 2013.

“This is due to a transition period during which we upgraded our home broadband technology. This will bring improved services to our customers,” said Greg Young, CEO of Ooredoo Oman.

“Our mobile postpaid customer base grew by 2.8 per cent to 192,427 customers compared with 187,163 customers for the first nine months of 2013. The mobile prepaid customer base for the first nine months of 2014 increased by 7.1 per cent to 2,262,174 compared to 2,112,356 for the same period last year,” he added.

“We were pleased with our revenue growth in quarter three, which was driven primarily by an increase in both mobile and fixed data and international voice revenues. Whilst this is partly a reflection of seasonality with strong travel and celebrations with family and friends, it is also driven by our attractive, innovative and targeted customer offers,” Young explained. – TradeArabia News Service