Qatar's Ooredoo, a leading telecom services provider in the region, blamed adverse foreign exchange losses and a tough operating environment in Iraq for the telecom operator's 43 per cent drop in first-quarter profit.

The former monopoly, which operates in about 15 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, had reported declining profits in four of the previous six quarters as difficulties in Iraq and North Africa and declines in the Indonesian rupiah weighed on its bottom line.

Ooredoo posted a net profit of QR501.2 million ($133.7 million) in the three months to March 31, down from QR886.6 million a year earlier, it said in a statement.

The company said excluding foreign exchange losses, which were primarily from weaker Algerian and Indonesian currencies, its first quarter profit fell 4 per cent, rather than the reported 43 per cent.

EFG Hermes and SICO Bahrain had forecast majority state-owned Ooredoo would make a quarterly profit of QR397.1 million riyals and QR675 million riyals respectively.

"Results have been strong in our home market, Qatar, and in Oman," Ooredoo chief executive Nasser Marafih said in the statement. "We are facing challenges in some of our markets including high levels of competition, adverse currency movements and the security situation in Iraq."

First-quarter revenue was QR8.04 billion, down from QR8.10 billion a year earlier despite the company increasing its subscriber base by 14 per cent to 111 million over the same period.

Ooredoo's quarterly net profit from its domestic operations nearly doubled to QR616 million from QR327 million a year earlier, outpacing a 16 per cent rise in revenue.

Number of customers increased by 14 per cent to 111 million during the period, driven by Indonesia, Myanmar and Algeria.

Iraqi subsidiary Asiacell's quarterly net profit was QR49 million, down 84 per cent year-on-year despite January's launch of 3G services.

Ooredoo reported in a 2014 annual results presentation that Asiacell's network was suspended in Mosul, Salahaldin, Anbar and Tikrit - areas held by Islamic State.

Indonesian unit Indosat made a net loss of QR121 million in the first quarter versus a profit of QR261 million a year earlier.

Ooredoo Kuwait - 92 per cent owned by Ooredoo and with operations in Algeria, Tunisia, the Maldives and the Palestinian Territories - reported an 89 per cent drop in first-quarter profit on Monday that it also blamed on hefty foreign exchange losses.

Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, chairman of Ooredoo said: “Our investment in broadband networks, which contribute to the changes happening in the world around us, continues to deliver value for our customers and our shareholders. “

“The world’s information, content and business opportunities are increasingly digital.  Ooredoo is helping to shape the development of future opportunity for consumers and businesses alike across its developing market economies.

“Our customers are benefiting from our services delivered over our ultra-high-speed networks, while Ooredoo positions itself to be at the digital heart of our customers’ lives. Our results for the first quarter of 2015 demonstrate the diversity of Ooredoo’s services that has attracted an increasing number of customers,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service & Reuters