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Omantel - Signs of a Slowdown, or Just a Blip?
Omantel, Oman's leading mobile operator by customer numbers, has released its full-year results for 2008 to the Muscat bourse. Its total customer base increased by 15.2% year-on-year to 1.71m. This is a respectable growth rate given that Omani penetration is now over 90%, although it was down 3.8pp compared to the 2007 growth rate. Moreover, on a quarterly basis there was evidence of a significant slowdown. Quarterly net additions stood at just 28k, a two-year low, and on a proportionate basis the quarterly uplift was just 1.7%, the lowest rate this century.
Of course, it is possible that this was merely a blip, and the fact that the Q3 08 figure for net additions was the fourth highest ever recorded does seem to reinforce this view. Indeed, there was a similar pattern in the first two quarters of 2008: Q1 net additions reached 87k, the second highest figure ever, and this was followed by a poor performance in Q2, which saw a gain of just 31k. Rather than a slowdown, then, it could be that we are witnessing a more volatile growth phase. The 100% penetration mark has certainly not presented a significant barrier for growth in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which has a similar level of economic development.
Omantel did not release quarterly financial figures, but on an annual basis there was a 17.1% gain in total revenue to OMR 427.9m. Operating profit saw an even greater rise of 25.9%, which took the 2008 figure to OMR 157.7m. Net profit after tax only managed a single digit gain, however, a 4.1% increase taking the annual figure to OMR 117.2m; the explanation for this less impressive performance was the effect of an impairment loss of OMR 18.9m attributable to Omantel's investment in Pakistani fixed line operator Worldcall Telecom Ltd.
Posted to the site on 26th February 2009
This article was extracted from The Mobile World Briefing, the weekly newsletter from The Mobile World.
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