Bankrupt telecoms vendor Nortel Networks reported a profit of US$1.78 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, mainly due to the gain of US$1.2 billion received from the sale of its CDMA business to Ericsson. The quarterly profit compares to a loss of US$2.14 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 and a loss of US$508 million in the third quarter of 2009.

Revenues for the three months ending December 31, 2009 slumped to US$794 million following declines across all its business segments and international regions. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2008 were US$2.07 billion.

In full year 2009 results revenues reached US$4.09 billion, down 46 per cent from US$7.62 billion in 2008. The company posted an annual net profit of US$488 million, compared to a net loss of US$5.8 billion during the previous 12 month period.

Since filing for creditor protection in January 2009, Nortel has been steadily selling off its various assets. Most recently, the firm received approval to sell nearly all of its global Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions (CVAS) business to Genband for US$282 million. The deal was initially announced December 23, however the approval from bankruptcy courts in Canada and the United States was confirmed on March 3. Genband is a Texas-headquartered global supplier of IP gateways and FMC security solutions.

South Africa’s MTN witnessed strong growth in revenues and subscribers over the course of 2009, however currency fluctuations particularly of the South African rand and Nigerian naira negatively impacted net profits. Revenues across its footprint of 21 markets in Africa and the Middle East were up 9.2 per cent on 2008, reaching ZAR 111.947 billion (US$15.011 billion) compared to ZAR 102.526 billion a year ago.

Mobile money has been rolled out in seven countries so far, with Uganda already topping 680,000 subscribers 

Net profit declined by 4.3 per cent from ZAR 15.315 billion in 2008 to ZAR 14.65 billion a year later. EBITDA was 6.7 per cent higher at ZAR 46.063 billion. Capital expenditure grew 10.6 per cent to ZAR 31.2 billion.

A better distribution network and a focus on segmented product offerings contributed to subscribers increasing by 28 per cent to 116 million. As a breakdown, 45 per cent of the total subscribers were based in the West and Central Africa region (WECA), 32 per cent in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with the remaining 23 per cent in South and East Africa (SEA).

MTN committed US$191 million to submarine cables with the group having access to cable capacity on the SAT-3/SAFE and TEAMs cables which are both currently operational, as well as future access to EASSy and EIG which are due to become operational in H2 2010 and WACS in H2 2011.

Mobile money was rolled out in South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Yemen, with Uganda surpassing 680,000 subscribers.

A robust fourth quarter performance by Inmarsat helped the mobile satellite services company report steady growth in its 2009 consolidated financial results. Fourth quarter revenues were 13 per cent higher than the same quarter a year ago, reaching US$181.5 million from US$160.6 million. EBITDA grew 18 per cent to US$119.7 million.

Maritime revenue grew 7.4 per cent on the back of strong take up and usage of Inmarsat’s Fleet and FleetBroadband services

During the three months to end December 2009, the company also lowered its cost of debt by refinancing US$650 million, and completed the acquisition of Segovia’s government solutions business.

Full year results saw total revenues increase by 4.2 per cent to US$1.038 billion, while the Inmarsat Global MSS revenue contribution was up 10.4 per cent to US$682.8 million. EBITDA was 11.9 per cent higher than the previous year at US$594.2 million.

The global mobile satellite communications provider saw growth across a number of its sectors with maritime revenue growing 7.4 per cent on the back of strong take up and usage of its Fleet and FleetBroadband services. The land mobile sector increased 3.3 per cent mainly due to the growth in subscribers of the BGAN service and a migration from older devices. BGAN ARPU strengthened in the second half of the year and reached US$288 per month in the fourth quarter.

The aeronautical and leasing sectors also experienced strong revenue growth by 18 and 30 per cent respectively. In-flight cellular services for airline passengers made good progress during the year, but remain at an early stage in revenue contribution.

Inmarsat’s outlook for 2010 is positive based on an expected rise in demand from commercial and government customers, particularly for its data services. The company is entering the handheld satellite phone voice market and believes this represents an attractive new growth opportunity for the future. Allowing for approximately US$10 million in capital expenditure which the firm has deferred from 2009 to 2010, it expects the total cash capital expenditure to be around US$160-170 million.

Qtel Group ended 2009 with a strong financial performance across its 17-country footprint, despite competitive challenges to its operations in Qatar, Oman and Kuwait from new entrants. Annual net profit swelled 20.5 per cent to QAR 2.8 billion (US$769 million), from QAR 2.3 billion a year earlier. Group revenues increased by 18.2 per cent from QAR 20.3 billion in 2008, to QAR 24 billion. The Qatari group’s EBITDA margin remained steady during the period at 47 per cent, compared to 48 per cent in 2008. The consolidated subscriber base finished the year with 60.5 million customers.

Oman’s Nawras grew subscriber numbers by 23.2 per cent, despite facing fresh competition in the form of MVNOs Friendi and Renna

Highlights for the year included sturdy customer growth in Iraq, Algeria and Indonesia, contributing to 76 per cent of revenues being generated outside Qatar. Wataniya Palestine and Wi-Tribe Pakistan were also launched. However, subscribers of Indonesia’s Indosat contracted, dropping from 37 million at the end of 2008, to 33.7 million at the end of 2009. Qtel attributed this to “successfully removing a significant proportion of the lower-value, calling card type behaviour subscribers”.

Chief executive Nasser Marafih commented that the group focused on improving network infrastructure to upgrade capacity and capabilities, particularly in relation to data and Broadband services, which is expected to capture future growth.

“We have also faced changing competitive dynamics in a number of our key markets and have demonstrated the resilience of our market strategies, particularly in Qatar where our focus on products and services, targeted pricing and customer service have enabled us to successfully adapt to these changes,” Marafih added.

Qtel, Qatar

Facing the end of its monopoly in Qatar with the launch of Vodafone, Qtel’s service offerings including a new customer loyalty programme, dedicated data packs and a range of BlackBerry and data solutions for business devices helped drive an increase in subscribers to 2.4 million and raised revenues 4.4 per cent to QAR 5.7 billion.

Indosat, Indonesia

The company continued to invest in expanding its reach to areas outside of its Java core, with the launch of the Palapa-D satellite system and Jakabare submarine cable, as well as enhancing its capacity to support new, value-added services. Revenue for the twelve months was QAR 6.6 billion, compared to QAR 4.2 billion in 2008 post-acquisition. EBITDA reached QAR 3.2 billion from QAR 2.1 billion in 2008 post-acquisition.

Wataniya Telecom

Wataniya Telecom operates in Kuwait, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the Maldives and Palestine. Wataniya faced competition in its home market of Kuwait with the entrance of Viva and launched commercial operations in Palestine. Overall customer numbers grew by 38.8 per cent to 15.2 million, however the subscriber growth failed to boost income, with revenues decreasing to QAR 6.1 billion from QAR 6.5 billion a year earlier.

Nawras, Oman

A ten-fold increase in prepaid broadband users and new services such as mobile TV, helped Nawras continue to perform positively despite the introduction of mobile resellers Friendi and Renna during the second half of the year. Subscribers increased 23.2 per cent during the period to 1.86 million. Revenues increased from QAR 1.3 billion in 2008 to QAR 1.6 billion during 2009. EBITDA performance improved by 62.7 percent to QAR 827 million.

The firm continues to work towards the commercial implementation of its fixed-line operation, with an international gateway expected to become operational in 2010.

Asiacell, Iraq

Asiacell achieved a 20.4 per cent increase in subscriber numbers to finish the year with 7.35 million customers. Revenues grew by 40.4 per cent to QAR 4 billion, from QAR 2.8 billion a year earlier. EBITDA also increased 43.9 per cent year-on-year to QAR 2.2 billion.

Orascom Telecom’s chairman Naguib Sawiris has denied the Egyptian company is involved in selling a majority shareholding.

"We are not in any talks to sell a stake," Sawiris stated in response to a report from the UAE’s The National. The newspaper quoted him as saying he preparing to cede control of Orascom Telecom (OT), with the firm assessing possible buyers of a majority stake or partner in a merger.

"People like me need to start thinking, ‘I cannot keep controlling my company, I need to cede control in exchange for shared control’," Sawiris was cited in The National. "But I don’t want to be an insignificant shareholder."

However, it is unlikely that the firm would be involved in a stake sale, with the firm still engrossed in a dispute with the Algerian government over a backdated US$600 million tax bill for the fiscal years 2004 to 2007. On March 7, Algerian tax authorities rejected an appeal from OT filed in December for a tax reassessment. OT intends to file an appeal before the Central Commission, which under Algerian law requires payment of 20 per cent of the balance of taxes and penalties alleged to be owing, equating to around US$110 million.

Additionally, OT has been engaged in legal action in Egypt to block France Telecom from taking full control of their joint venture Mobinil.

Sawiris founded the operator in 1998, which has grown to 89 million subscribers as of September 30, 2009. OT operates GSM networks in Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Bangladesh and North Korea. Through its subsidiary Telecel Globe it operates in Burundi, Central African Republic, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The Egyptian firm also has an indirect equity in Globalive Wireless (Wind Canada).