Qatar Telecom (Q-Tel) announced Friday, August 24, a 21 percent increase in net profit to 221.5 million riyals ($60.9 million) in the second quarter of 2001 from the same period last year.
Q-Tel chairman Shaikh Abdullah Bin Muhammad Al-Thani said that revenue climbed 13 percent to 380.7 million riyals ($104.6 million) from 337.6 million riyals ($92.7 million) in the corresponding three months of 2000.
"The main drive for this growth is the phenomenal demand for our prepaid GSM service which has expanded by 100 percent since end-2000 and stood at around 50,000 subscribers by June 30, 2001, and is continuing to grow at a faster pace than we expected," Shaikh Abdullah said.
"We are confident that the anticipated increase in growth of the local and regional economies during this year, together with the continued demand from customers arising from improvement in the services we provide will result in a strong business performance during the remainder of 2001," he said in a statement.
Q-Tel posted a 16.2 percent increase in net profit to 724.5 million riyals ($199 million) in 2000. The government holds a 55-percent stake in the company, which retains a monopoly on telecommunications in the Gulf Arab state, while the balance is publicly traded on the Doha stock market. ― (AFP, Doha)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
