Vodafone Qatar posts US$137 million nine-month loss

Vodafone Qatar announced an operating loss of QAR 495.6 million (US$137 million) for the nine-months ending December 2009, owing to an increase in operational costs.

Revenues rose in Q409 to QAR 178 million, up from QAR 36 million the previous quarter, based mainly on a surge in customer numbers. The operator ended 2009 with 353,580 subscribers, more than double the number during the quarter ending September. Vodafone’s subscribers represent 22 per cent of the population, but a market share of 14 per cent due to market saturation. The company’s long-term plan targets 700,00 subscribers by end-2012 and 1,618,000 by end-2018.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter was QAR 171 (US$47).

In December Vodafone’s network achieved 100 per cent coverage of the country, meeting the final obligation imposed by ictQATAR as part of the mobile license. In the last quarter of the financial year, ending March 2010, it will continue its progress in converting temporary cell sites to permanent ones.

Customers made heavy use of international calling promotions in the third quarter, making over 70 million minutes of international calls during November. The operator’s ongoing promotion of up to 300MB of free mobile Internet per month also prompted over 40 percent of Vodafone’s customers to make active use of this service, one of the highest concentrations in the Vodafone Group globally.

In the upcoming quarter the company plans to release BlackBerry and mobile broadband, followed by Vodafone Money Transfer, a mobile cash service, later in the year subject to regulatory approval. Other focuses for the mobile operator include more innovation with its payment and billing systems, complex enterprise solutions and the development of its fixed-line business.

The operator broke the Middle East’s last monopoly by winning the bid for the country’s second mobile licence for US$2.12 billion in 2007. It switched on its networks in March 2009, however, a full commercial launch did not take place until July.