MyAdhan Blog

Link: Saudi Telecom First Quarter Net Income Rises 11%

Another Link: Saudi Telecom profit rises

Saudi Telecom Co., the Arab world’s largest phone company, said first-quarter profit rose 11 percent as it added subscribers. Net income climbed to 3.03 billion riyals ($810 million), or 1.51 riyals a share, from 2.72 billion riyals, or 1.36 riyals, a year earlier, the Riyadh-based company said today in a filing to the Saudi stock exchange. Saudi Telecom’s subscriber base increased by 23 percent, it said. The company has expanded overseas in preparation for a new competitor in its home market, where Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co., or Zain, is set to begin operations in the second half. In January, Saudi Telecom paid $2.56 billion for a 35 percent stake in the United Arab Emirates’ Oger Telecom Ltd., gaining access to customers in Turkey and South Africa. Last year, it won a mobile-phone operator’s license in Kuwait for $908 million, and paid $3 billion for a 25 percent interest in Malaysia’s Maxis Communications Bhd. The Maxis stake gives Saudi Telecom access to 1.4 billion people in Asia and enables it to provide roaming services to at least 1.5 million Indians working in Saudi Arabia.