Viva Kuwait reported a 5 percent fall in first-quarter net profit on Sunday, despite an uptick in revenues for the telecom operator.

The Saudi Telecom Company (STC) subsidiary made a net profit of KD9.8 million ($32.5 million) in the three months to March 31, it said in a statement. This compares with a profit of KD10.4 million in the year-earlier period.

SICO Bahrain had forecast Viva Kuwait would make a quarterly profit of KD10.7 million.

Viva did not give any reason for the decline in year-on-year profit in the statement. However, the operator noted that first-quarter revenue was KD70.5 million, up 6 percent from a year ago.

Viva competes with Ooredoo Kuwait, a unit of Qatar's Ooredoo, and Zain.

STC upped its stake in Viva to 51.8 percent, from 26 percent, earlier this year after making a buyout offer to all other shareholders.  - Reuters