Ooredoo Group Chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani and Chief Executive Officer Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani
DOHA: Ooredoo Group (Ooredoo), one of the leading telecom services providers in the world, announced yesterday its financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 reporting a 16 percent increase in its net profit at QR1.3bn for the period compared to corresponding period last year.
Growth in profit was driven by an increase in EBITDA and a more favourable FX (foreign exchange rate) environment compared to 2018 partially offset by a negative IFRS16 impact on net profit, said a statement issued by Ooredoo yesterday.
The Group’s revenues before the FX impact decreased by 1 percent, the reported group revenue was QR22bn, a decline of 3 percent compared to the same period last year, impacted by the industry wide shift from voice to data consumption, a reduction in handset sales as well as macroeconomic and currency weakness in some of our markets.
Among the other operational highlights, the Group said that its customer base increased to 116 million, up by one million over Q2 2019, mainly driven by new customers in Indonesia and Iraq.
Ooredoo Group leads in 5G adoption with live commercial 5G networks in Qatar and Kuwait and successful 5G testing in Oman. Network expansion continued to be a key driver of growth. Ooredoo Tunisia continued its 4G rollout with many new B2B clients connected. Ooredoo Myanmar deployed more LTE1800 sites to reinforce existing nationwide coverage, contributing to sequential growth in revenues for the quarter. In Algeria, 4G network expansion continued with 64 percent of the population covered.
Ooredoo Algeria appointed Nikolai Beckers as CEO in August 2019. With over 20 years of experience across the telecommunication and ICTO industries across Europe and Asia, he will play a key role in realising Ooredoo’s ambitions in Algeria, leading the telecom operations during a period of digital transformation.
In October 2019 Indosat Ooredoo signed a Sales and Purchase Agreements with Mitratel and Protelindo, for the sale of 3,100 telecommunications towers in Indonesia for a total transaction value of approx. QR1.6bn, enabling Indosat Ooredoo to unlock value from a portion of its tower business.
Commenting on the results, Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo, said: “We are seeing very good progress with the execution of our digital strategy, positioning Ooredoo Group as the leading operator for innovative digital solutions across our ten markets of operations. At the same time, we continued to leverage group synergies and digitisation to optimise our cost base to deliver value in a fast evolving telecommunications landscape.”
Sheikh Abdulla added: “I am pleased to report a robust set of results during the first nine months of 2019 with Group net profit increasing 16 percent to QR1.3bn, compared to the same period last year. Growth was achieved despite challenges from industry wide shifts away from voice and SMS services, which means that our strategy is working and showing positive results.”
He further added: “We remain focused on the future with an emphasis on transforming our business to meet the digital needs of our customers and support the adoption of new technologies. In our home market in Qatar, we continued our 5G roll out, which will power the IoT (“Internet of Things”) services that we launched during the quarter. Our leading network infrastructure continues to receive international acclaim, with Ooredoo Qatar winning four awards from Ookla for the best and fastest mobile network, best mobile coverage and fastest ISP.”
Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group CEO of Ooredoo, said: “Our focus on efficiency and digitisation continues to deliver positive results as we harness group wide synergies to deliver award winning products and services for our customers. The results for the first nine months of 2019 reflect these initiatives with the improvement of our 9M 2019 EBITDA margin to 44 percent compared to 41 percent for the same period last year, supported by a good EBITDA growth of 4 percent to QR9.7bn for the first nine months of the year.”
Sheikh Saud added: “The continued recovery in Indonesia demonstrates that we have the right strategy in place to deliver growth in the new market environment. Indosat Ooredoo reported significant growth, with revenue up 11 percent and EBITDA up 37 percent for the nine-month period. In Kuwait we are seeing good demand for our offerings with our customer base increasing 13 percent during 9M 2019, contributing to a 43 percent increase in EBITDA during the same period.”
Ooredoo Tunisia reaffirmed its position as the number 1 telecom player by customer market share and increased revenues by 10 percent in local currency terms.
Ooredoo Qatar continued to focus upon operational efficiency and innovation through the period this year. Revenue stood at QR5.4bn for the first nine months of this year against QR5.8bn for the same period last year. The decline in revenue was impacted by lower handset sales. EBITDA was QR3bn, an increase of 2 percent year-on-year, enabled by an increasing focus on digitisation and a range of cost optimisation measures, including renegotiating major content deals. Customer numbers for Ooredoo Qatar stood at 3.2 million. EBITDA margin sustained its positive trend, rising to 56 percent (9M 2018: 51 percent).
Ooredoo Qatar leveraged its sporting heritage and network excellence during the period to provide smart stadium support for the IAAF World Athletics Championships that took place in Doha. The Ooredoo network provided connectivity, speed and reliable voice calling for thousands of visitors, athletes, media and support staff during the event. In addition, the company extended its partnership with Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company to provide a full smart city network for the in-development Lusail City.
Innovation helped to enhance the customer experience in the home entertainment and retail fields. The launch of the new Ooredoo ONE ‘All-In-One’ Home Service supported the expansion of the customer base for triple play (entertainment, broadband and landline) services during the period. In addition, Ooredoo Qatar premiered a world first with the launch of ‘Virtual Store,’ an online 360-degree retail experience that enabled visitors to browse and buy devices and products in a virtual environment.
