CAIRO: Fixed-line monopoly Telecom Egypt posted $139m in net profit in the second quarter and said yesterday it hoped to obtain a unified landline and mobile license soon allowing it to boost earnings further.
The net profit figure of 994m Egyptian pounds represented an 11 percent increase from a year ago, driven by Telecom Egypt’s role in building international networks. It proposed a $0.05 cash dividend for 2014 on the back of increased revenues across all business units and the highest quarterly revenue in its history. Last year the firm had issued a dividend of 1 Egyptian pound.
Chief Executive Mohamed Elnawawy told Reuters in a telephone interview that the revenue growth in its international business arose from building networks to India and East Africa and most recently to Asia-Pacific and China. “The geography of Egypt is a very important geography and for the last several decades Telecom Egypt has been connecting international infrastructure that comes form the south and the east and connects to the north and the west,” he said.
However, Elnawawy said these revenues were not recurring and the company was seeking to boost its retail business. It was expecting the government to approve “soon” a unified licence for mobile and landline services that would allow it to offer a mobile service and boost earnings.
Elnawawy declined to say how much revenue a mobile business would bring in but said that Telecom Egypt had already committed to investing the 2.5bn pound license fee set by the state.
Reuters
