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Qatar-based telco’s customer base swells to 118 million.
Ooredoo this week reported a slight decline in first-quarter revenue, driven by currency depreciation in Algeria and Tunisia, and instability in Iraq.
The Qatar-based telco generated revenue of 7.89 billion riyals (€1.91 billion) in the three months to 31 March, down from QAR8.04 billion in the corresponding quarter 12 months ago. EBITDA fell 1% year-on-year to QAR3.18 billion.
Excluding currency effects, revenue and EBITDA would have increased by 1% and 3% respectively, driven by strong revenue growth in Oman, Indonesia, Myanmar, Kuwait and the Maldives, Ooredoo said.
"Ooredoo has delivered solid results to start the year. Our diverse range of services attracted 7 million new customers and we now have 118 million customers globally," said Ooredoo chairman Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, on Wednesday.
Revenue in Oman increased 11% year-on-year to QAR646 million driven by higher prepaid data and voice revenues. In Kuwait, revenue also grew by 11%, to QAR604 million.
Ooredoo’s Indonesian arm grew revenue to QAR1.84 billion from QAR1.73 billion, as its customer base increased 5% year-on-year to 69.8 million.
Revenue at the telco’s closely-watched Myanmar operation surged 42% to QAR334 million. It also swung to positive EBITDA of QAR9 million (€2.18 million) from a year-earlier EBITDA loss of QAR25 million.
Ooredoo Myanmar’s customer base increased to 6.9 million from 3.4 million.
The picture is not as rosy in Iraq though, where instability, the depreciation of the dinar, and a deteriorating economy impacted consumer spending, contributing to a 15% fall in revenue at Ooredoo’s Asiacell unit.
Currency depreciation also drove down revenues in Algeria and Tunisia, by 8% and 9% respectively; Ooredoo Tunisia was also affected by what the company calls a "challenging" security situation.
However, positive currency effects in Indonesia and Myanmar drove Ooredoo’s group net profit up 75% year-on-year to QAR879 million.
