By Satish Kanady
DOHA: Telecom major Ooredoo Group recorded a consolidated revenue of QR16bn for the first half of 2016 (H1, 16). The Group’s net profit to its shareholders surged 46 percent to QR1.5bn. The profits were mainly driven by strong contributions from Indonesia, Myanmar and Algeria, supported by positive Foreign Exchange movements. Excluding foreign exchange transition impact, revenues would have increased 2 percent, compared to the reported year-on-year decline of 1 percent, Ooredoo said yesterday.
Group EBITDA was stable at QR6.5bn with an improved EBITDA margin of 41 percent compared to last year indicating a continued improvement in operational performance from Q1, 2016. Excluding Foreign Exchange translation impact, Group EBITDA would have increased by 3 percent year-on-year. Data revenue increased to 39 percent of Group revenue (H1, 2015: 34 percent). Revenue from data contributed QR6.2bn in H1, 2016. Ooredoo continued to be the data leader in its markets.
Commenting on the results, Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo, said: “This has been a good first half of the year for Ooredoo. Despite the challenges of the global economy and a number of market specific issues, Ooredoo continues to generate value. We are successfully implementing our digital strategy across our markets, making world class communication services available to our consumer and enterprise customers. The investments we are making in our data networks and services are leading to good operational trends across the business. Customers increasingly see Ooredoo as a digital communications company, offering the best services across our voice and data networks.”
Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO of Ooredoo said: “We have seen some good operational improvements across our businesses during the first six months of the year. Both revenue and EBITDA were robust for the period at QR16bn and QR6.5bn, respectively. Group EBITDA margin actually improved to 41 percent driven by better efficiencies in the countries like Indonesia, Algeria, Myanmar; and even in Iraq, despite the difficult security situation. Revenue growth continued in Oman and Qatar. Kuwait continues to perform well in a highly competitive market, improving both revenue and EBITDA.”
“We now have 8 of our 10 operators within the Ooredoo Group offering 4G networks. Data growth across the business has been strong, reflecting our ability to deliver highly valued data services to our customers across best in class data networks. Data as a percentage of group revenue is now 39 percent, compared to 34 percent for the first half of 2015. We successfully refinanced our $1bn loan and launched a new $500m bond in June. Strong support by our investors helped to reduce refinancing risk for the next few years.”
Ooredoo Qatar delivered a solid performance in H1. Customer numbers reached 3.4 million approximately in line with H1, 2015. Revenue was just over QR4bn, a 1 percent increase compared to H1, 2015. H1, 2016 EBITDA stood at QR2bn and net profit stood at QR1bn — both in line with the previous year.
Ooredoo continued to take the lead in digital services and network performance in Qatar with a number of significant upgrades. These included the addition of the Category 9 LTE-Advanced standard to its mobile network, deploying multiple 4G frequency bands to support download speeds of up to 325Mbps.
The company also launched a new 1Gbps Fibre plan during the period, the fastest home internet service in Qatar, and the high-end “Platinum HomeZone” service, which offers full Wi-Fi Internet coverage for customers with large villas and mansions.
Ooredoo pursued its strategy of positioning itself as the leading integrated ICT provider in Qatar, providing support to Qatari organisations and enterprises including Qatar Rail and Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Ooredoo Qatar is building the region’s first 5G research and development centre in Doha in collaboration with a number of global technology leaders.
The Peninsula
