Batelco Group achieved its highest ever annual net profit of BD105 millon (US$278.5 million), on the back of record gross revenues across its seven operations of BD346.9 million, a nine per cent increase year-on-year. Its net revenues grew by eight per cent to BD268.7 million, with earnings per share remaining steady at 72.9 fils, in comparison to 72.4 fils a year earlier.

The company rebranded in December with a new logo, in an effort to create a modern look that is relevant for customers today and in the future 

Group chairman Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa said the company’s strategy to offer a full range of communication services to customers in Bahrain, as well as growing in its regional markets – Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and India – were the company’s main success factors in 2009.

“We have maintained our market leadership in Bahrain, continued to grow across the Middle East region and got off to a successful start in India, despite the highest competitive intensity in every market in which we operate,” commented Shaikh Hamad.

The Bahrain-based operator’s expansion strategy resulted in more than 5.1 million mobile subscribers, a 19 per cent year-on-year increase, and 200,000 broadband customers.

Group CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos said the company managed its costs carefully and delivered record EBITDA of BD153 million. Batelco’s overseas operations contributed 31 per cent of gross revenues and 22 per cent of EBITDA. Kaliaropoulos added that all Batelco’s business operations delivered within business plan expectations for the year.

Batelco’s latest mobile venture, STel in India, launched at the beginning of December and has since garnered a subscriber base of 450,000 customers.

“We also launched, together with Atheeb, our new broadband and voice services in Saudi Arabia under the GO brand, the first company to offer very credible 4G services and challenge the incumbent operator,” Kaliaropoulos stated.

Batelco’s Jordan mobile operation Umniah now has a market share year-end of 27 per cent, with 1.65 million GSM subscribers, 9,000 WiMAX customers and 9,000 ADSL lines.

However, Bahrain remains the most important market for the group. Active mobile subscribers reached 822,000, broadband crossed 85,000 customers and there were 200,000 fixed lines as of the end of 2009.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Qtel’s long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior unsecured ratings at ‘A+’ respectively. Fitch has simultaneously affirmed Qtel International Finance Limited’s global medium-term note programme (GMTN), guaranteed by Qtel, at ‘A+’.

Additionally, Standard & Poor’s rating service reassigned its ‘A-’ long-term and ‘A-2’ short term corporate credit ratings, while Moodys is currently rating Qtel with A1. The outlook on all ratings is stable.

Fitch’s rating affirmation reflects its assessment of the sovereign’s creditworthiness, given Qtel’s strong operational and strategic ties with the State of Qatar. The State of Qatar owns a 55 per cent stake in Qtel which is held directly and via the Qatar Holding. Therefore the agency’s approach takes into account the operator’s government backing.

Chief executive of Qtel, Dr Nasser Marafih believed the ratings were a continued validation of the Qatari operator’s compelling strategy, professional management and sound financial structure.

“It also reflects the extraordinary strength of the Qatari economy despite wider global economic issues and the strong and continuous support of our shareholders. Our investment grade credit ratings will ensure that we have continued excellent access to global investors and that we can revisit the markets to finance our growth," Marafih stated.

Fitch estimates that Qtel’s leverage (net debt to EBITDA) will increase slightly to 2.25x at YE09 compared with 2.1x at YE08 due to the tender call on Indosat shares at Q109. The agency is confident the company will maintain a conservative financial policy and will not test the maximum leverage tolerance set by the board at a debt/EBITDA ratio of 3.5x.

The agency also notes that, as expected, over 80 per cent of consolidated EBITDA originated from four core markets during Q309: Qatar, Indonesia, Kuwait and Iraq. Fitch would also view any potential acquisition as an event risk, in line with its rating methodology.

Almost all of Qtel’s operating subsidiaries are currently self-funded, with limited support from the parent company. Fitch notes that the company’s consolidated free cash flow (FCF) generation capability will be affected by increasing investment needs in Indonesia and Iraq in 2009 and 2010, but Qtel is expected to generate strong FCF in 2011 in line with the expected fall in capex needs.

The Qtel Group is a diversified telecommunications group providing consumer telephony, consumer broadband and corporate managed services. Over the past three years, Qtel has expanded its geographic footprint from two to 17 countries within the Middle East and Asia, with more than 52 million customers.

Pakistan’s government said it expects the UAE’s Etisalat to shell out as much as US$800 million by the end of the first quarter 2010, to cover withheld payments related to a dispute over its 2006 purchase of a 26 per cent stake in Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTCL). The dispute is reported to be over the ownership of several properties in Pakistan that were part of the deal.

According to the terms of the agreement, Etisalat was due to pay US$1.4 billion within one month after the signing of the deal and the remaining amount of US$1.2 billion was to be paid in equal instalments over four and a half years, with one instalment due every six months. It has been reported that around US$1 billion of those payments are now up to a year overdue.

“We expect the money in our exchequer by the end of March,” Waqar Ahmed Khan, Pakistan’s minister of privatisation, said in Dubai.

PTCL’s mobile subsidiary, Ufone ended Q3 2009 with around 19.1 million subscribers, representing a market share of around 20 per cent. It is believed Etisalat plans to expand Ufone’s presence into rural areas and to bid for an upcoming 3G licence.

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Etisalat holds up PTCL payments

In direct competition to Orange Jordan and Wataniya Palestine’s strategic agreement signed last week, Zain Jordan has announced a partnership with Paltel which will allow the Palestinian operator to become a member of Zain’s extensive ‘One Network’ roaming service.

Zain Group CEO Al Barrak (centre) says Zain Jordan and Paltel are already acting in accord, as though a merger has been successfully completed

Orange and Wataniya created an alliance on January 19 which would see their customers on both sides of the Jordanian and Palestinian border call, receive and roam for only 12 piastres/85 agoras (US$0.17) per minute. Approximately 2.1 million subscribers would be able to take advantage of this strategic agreement.

In comparison, the Zain/Paltel deal will initially enable more than four million subscribers in both countries to pay local rates when roaming between Jordan and Palestine. Paltel’s mobile service Jawwal will join the network on February 1, with a view to its connection being expanded to all 22 other Zain One Network countries across the Middle East and Africa in the near future.

In addition Zain has revived its hopes of concluding its previously failed merger deal with Paltel by the end of 2010.

“We are now dealing as one company irrespective of ownership and as if we are two companies with one ownership until the merger is completed,” Zain CEO Saad al-Barrak stated.

In May 2009, Zain Group and Paltel signed an agreement for a cashless share-for-share exchange, which would have seen Zain take a majority interest in Paltel with an equity shareholding of 56.53 per cent, in exchange for Paltel owning 100 per cent of Zain Jordan. However, in November, the companies announced the planned merger was not ratified due to not receiving the required government approvals to complete the deal.

Togo Cellulaire (Togocel) today awarded a EUR 22 million (US$31 million) contract to Alcatel-Lucent to expand the mobile operator’s current GSM capacity and build the first 3G wireless broadband network in the West African nation. The new network will be deployed by end-2010, and will enable Togocel to offer advanced mobile broadband services.

Alcatel-Lucent will implement a full end-to-end turnkey solution including its converged radio access network (RAN) and transport solution based on 3G/HSPA technologies. The France-based vendor will also provide network planning, radio design and operation and maintenance optimisation.

Togocel was inaugurated in 1998 and is a subsidiary of Togo Telecom, the state-owned operator. With more than 1.6 million subscribers, 99 per cent of which are prepaid, it holds the lion share of the market with 75 per cent of subscribers, ahead of its only competitor Telecel Togo.