Majority state-owned Omantel reported group revenue of RO 1,802.2 million for the first nine months of 2021, compared to RO 1,859.2 million for the corresponding period of 2020, representing a decline of 3.1 per cent. Domestic revenue declined 3.2 per cent to RO 396.9 million, compared to RO 410.1 million for the corresponding period of 2020.
Announcing its results for the 9M period, the country’s leading telecom operator said: “Revenues growth achieved in Mobile Postpaid and Fixed Broadband have contributed in managing the margin for the third quarter of 2021, despite a fall in Mobile Prepaid due to challenging market conditions.”
The Group’s total operating expenses decreased to RO 1,507.6 million compared to RO 1,548.6 million for the corresponding period 2020, a decrease of 2.7 per cent. Net profit after tax amounted to RO 168.1 million this year, compared to RO 167.7 million in 2020. After adjusting for minority interest the net profit for the period, it amounted to RO 48.9 million, compared to RO 46.3 million in 2020.
The net profit of its domestic operations stood at RO 54.7 million, which is a decline of 2.3 per cent in comparison to Year 2020 performance, the publicly listed company said.
“Revenue growth was achieved in Mobile Postpaid (20.3 per cent) and Fixed Broadband (9.8 per cent), while prepaid revenue declined due to challenging market conditions. The continued focus on cost optimisation measures has resulted in managing the net profit decline despite the revenue decrease,” it further noted.
The total domestic subscriber base as of September 2021 (including mobile and fixed businesses) was 3.303 million (excluding Mobile Resellers) compared to 3.286 million of the corresponding period of the previous year, recording a growth of 0.5 per cent over the last period. Total subscriber base with mobile resellers reached 3.8 million.
Omantel subsidiary Mobile Telecommunication Company (Zain) recorded revenues of RO 1,413.1 million for the period, representing a drop of 3.2 per cent from revenue of RO 1,458.2 million for the corresponding period of 2020. EBITDA stood at RO 594.3 million, compared to the corresponding period EBITDA of RO 611.6 million recording a decline of 2.8 per cent. Net profit stood at RO 180.9 million compared to RO 182.9 million of the previous period.
The total customer base of Zain Group decreased by 2.3 per cent to 48.4 million compared to 49.6 million of the previous period.
Omantel’s mobile market share (including Mobile Resellers) was 53.6 per cent with a revenue share of 60.1 per cent. The Fixed Telephone (post & pre-paid) market share was 70.3 per cent with a revenue market share of 80.1 per cent.
