Saudi Telecom eyes firm growth from foreign units
Saudi Telecom Co, the Middle East’s largest listed telecom operator has stated that it is expecting steady revenue growth from its international operations this year as it continues to add subscribers in countries like Indonesia, India and Kuwait and would consider the right acquisition opportunity should it arise.
The company, which sourced around 33% of total revenues in 2010 from its foreign units, expects its current rate of revenue expansion offshore to stabilize in 2011.
According to Ghassan Hasbani, Saudi Telecom’s chief executive of international operations, growth will continue to be steady until an acquisition comes.
Saudi Telecom, or STC, is increasingly looking beyond the kingdom for earnings growth. It has targeted regions such as Africa and Asia as competition in its domestic market from the likes of Etihad Etisalat, or Mobily, and Zain Saudi heats up.
According to STC’s website it now has a presence in Kuwait, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and South Africa.
Hasbani added that these markets grow no less than 10%. Some markets are doubling revenues year on year.
Telekom Malaysia’s Q4 revenue falls but net profit rises
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A rise of 2.5% in the net profit but 9% fall in the revenue of the fourth quarter has been reported by Telekom Malaysia. 7.8% loss from MYR 822.0 million to MYR 757.7 million has been reported in EBITDA while the profit before tax slipped 0.1 percent to MYR 235.6 million.
A net profit of MYR 170.2 million, up 2.5 percent from MYR 166.0 million in Q4 2008 has been posted by Telekom Malaysia.
The company ended the quarter with 1.43 million broadband customers and 4.32 million fixed customers. For 2010, TM expects revenue growth of 2 percent and an EBITDA margin of 33 percent.
Excessive handset subsidies in Netherlands come to an end
Following T-Mobile’s recent announcement, market leader KPN has also decided to cut the commissions it pays to retailers for selling mobile services in The Netherlands. From September, KPN will gradually reduce handset subsidies and sales commissions. The handset subsidies and excessive sales commissions have been a thorn in the side of operators in recent years amid an increasingly saturated Dutch mobile market. The handset subsidies and sales commission contribute to very high churn rates, reaching 30 percent, but do not add to service revenue growth, putting pressure on profit margins. A reduction was inevitable, but the question was which operator dared to take the first step and risk giving the competition an advantage? The first move by T-Mobile and the recent success of E-Plus in Germany may have helped KPN take the decision to pull the plug on handset subsidies in The Netherlands.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
