The Qatar Telecom Company (Q-Tel) experienced a 33.9 percent net profit increase in the third quarter of the year 2001, reaching 244.4 million Qatari riyals ($67 million), compared with QR 182.5 million ($50 million) in the corresponding quarter the previous year. The company’s revenues reached QR 383.3 million ($105 million) during the same period, a 16.6 percent increase over QR 328.7 million ($90 million) in the third quarter of 2000, company figures indicate.
In the first nine months of 2001, Q-Tel’s net profit increased by 26.3 percent reaching QR 681.8 million ($187 million), compared with QR 539.9 million ($148 million) in the first three quarters of the year 2000. Revenue earned between January and September amounted to QR 1,121,4 million ($307 million) in 2001, whereas during the corresponding period last year revenues totaled QR 991.3 million ($272 million). The Earnings per share (EPS) figure as of September 30 stood at QR 6.82 ($1.87), compared with QR 5.40 ($1.48) on September 30, 2000—a 26.3 percent increase year-on-year.
Q-Tel’s chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al-Thani confirmed that the national carrier has witnessed a continued demand for GSM services during the third quarter, translating into a 10 percent increase in the subscriber base. The number of GSM subscribers in Qatar stood at 162,000 in September-end. Revenue from GSM services increased by 57 percent in the first nine months of this year compared with the corresponding period last year.
The number of fixed line service subscribers in the country increased by six percent in the first nine months of this year compared with the corresponding period last year. International telephony traffic volumes this year are respectively 22 percent and 19 percent higher than the third quarter and the first nine months of last year.
The number of Internet service subscribers increased by 29 percent during the nine months of the year 2001, compared with figures from last year. A 10 percent subscriber increase, to 13,000 users, was recorded in the third quarter of the current year. Revenue from Internet operations increased by 48 percent in the first nine months of 2001, compared with the corresponding period last year.
One of the largest commercial enterprises in Qatar, Q-TEL has exclusive rights to provide telecommunications services in the country, including domestic and international fixed line and mobile telecommunications services.
It was floated on the Doha Securities Market (DSM) through an initial public offering (IPO) in Qatar and a private placement in the GCC countries which was open to Qatari as well as non-Qatari nationals on December 1998, with a market capitalization of six billion QR ($1.6 billion), representing approximately 30 percent of the total capitalization of the Doha Securities Market at the time of its floatation. Q-TEL has over 10,000 shareholders.
Qatar Telecom was established in 1998, after the Qatar Public Telecommunications Corporation merged with the Qatar National Telephone Service, Cable and Wireless and the Telecommunications Department at the Ministry of Communications and Transport. — (menareport.com)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
