Zain Saudi Arabia has announced that it has successfully extended the maturity date of its syndicated Murabaha facility for five years to July 31, 2018.The facility has been restructured as an amortising facility, 25 per cent of which will be due during years four and five of the life of the facility, with 75 per cent due at maturity. The company has partially repaid the facility, utilising a portion of its internal cash resources, and the current outstanding principal stands at US$2.3 billion (SAR8.63 billion).

The new facility arrangement will carry a decreased profit margin by around 18 per cent compared to the previous agreement, with the possibility for further reduction in line with the improving credit metrics.

This extension represents the final stage of the balance sheet reorganisation of the operator, following the US$325 million Export Credit Agency Facility in June 2012, the capital restructuring and rights issue in July 2012 and the US$600 million junior debt facility in June 2013.

Zain Group reported that revenues in H113 to June 30 amounted to KWD612 million (US$2.16 billion), down 10 per cent year-on-year, while net income came in at KWD113, down 22 per cent.

Consolidated EBITDA for the same period reached KWD 265 million, down 13 per cent year-on-year, reflecting an EBITDA margin of 43.3%, down from 45.1 per cent a year earlier.

Total active subscribers numbered 44.4 million, up seven per cent year-on-year, with the operator explaining that adverse currency translation impact predominantly in the Republic of Sudan, cost the company the equivalent of US$347 million in revenues, US$150 million in EBITDA and US$80 million in net profit for the six month period.

Group data revenues as a percentage of overall service revenues constitute 13 per cent of group revenues, up 19 per cent from a year ago.

Zain country operational six-month highlights included:

· Kuwait: Year-on-year customer growth of 11 per cent reaching 2.4 million, launched nationwide 4G LTE with data currently representing 28 per cent of revenues

· Bahrain: Customer base grew by 36 per cent; recently launched 4G LTE

· Iraq: Customer base grew by eight per cent to 13.9 million as operation expands network to North Iraq

· Jordan: Maintains customer and value leadership through dynamic marketing campaigns

· Lebanon: Management contract extended to 30 September 2013

· Saudi Arabia: 4G LTE network and aggressive marketing campaigns contribute to12% customer growth to reach 8.3 million, revenue growth of 12 per cent

· Sudan: In SDG currency terms, revenues grew by 23 per cent year-on-year, with healthy EBITDA growth of 26 per cent with 12.5 million customers served

· South Sudan: Customer base grew by 27 per cent while revenues grew by 36 per cent in US dollar terms

Wataniya Telecom has reported that its customer base grew by 7.2 per cent over the past year to reach 19.6 million at the end of June.

First-half revenues amounted to KWD378.9 million (US$1.33 billion), up 2.9 per cent year-on-year.

Net profit for H1 fell by 11 per cent to KWD 42.4 million, and was put down to a highly competitive Kuwaiti market and the Tunisian operation, which has been affected by a still difficult economic situation and tax claims.

Wataniya Kuwait’s customer base was basically flat year-on-year at 1.94 million, while revenues fell by 8.4 per cent to KWD 104.6 million. Net profit more than halved to KWD 13.5 million, compared to KWD 29.1 million a year ago.

Qualcomm announced that its third fiscal quarter revenues rose by more than a third to US$6.24 billion, boosted by increased smartphone chip shipments.

Net profit was also up, by 31 per cent to US$1.58 billion. R&D expenses increased 36 per cent primarily due to an increase in costs to develop CDMA-based 3G, OFDMA-based LTE and other technologies for integrated circuit and related software products.

Mobile Station Modem chip shipments were up by 22 per cent at 172 million units.

UAE telco Du reported that Q213 revenues rose by 12 per cent over the year to reach AED2.66 billion (US$724 million), while net profits were up by 46 per cent to AED 474 million (US$129 million).

Mobile revenue increased 13.33 per cent year-on-year, while mobile data revenues rose by 44.8 per cent.

The mobile customer base rose by 16 per cent to end the period to reach 6.65 million, while the landline base rose by 5.7 per cent to 578,000 customers.

Du estimates its mobile market share is 46.5 per cent.

The company also announced it was making a special dividend payment to its shareholders of AED 1 billion.