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etisalat leads global mobile operators posting fastest first-quarter growth
Subscriber base across 16 markets grows 106.4% between January-March to reach 24.4m.
- By Nadia Saleem, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:03 July 23, 2008
Dubai: etisalat was recently ranked as the world's fastest-growing mobile operator, in a study conducted by Informa Telecoms and Media.
According to proportionate subscription growth in the first quarter of 2008, etisalat came in first with 106.4 per cent increase compared with the previous quarter, achieving a proportionate mobile subscriber base of 24.2 million across 16 markets in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The study ranked operator groups on the total number of mobile subscriptions based on their percentage ownership of mobile operators.
The second fastest growing mobile operator as per subscriber increase was Zain, the Kuwait-based operator that provides services in seven Middle Eastern and 14 African countries.
The group's proportionate subscribers grew at 70.31 per cent during the period to 32.9 million.
Moody's rating
Credit ratings agency Moody's gave an 'AA2' long-term issuer rating to etisalat, with a stable outlook. "etisalat's 'AA2' rating is underpinned by its strong market position in the UAE, its track record, including a string of acquisitions abroad, its high profitability and solid cash flow generation, in addition to its prudent financial strategy," said Martin Kohlhase, Moody's assistant vice-president and etisalat's lead analyst in Dubai.
The number of proportionate subscriptions for the top 30 listed global mobile operators increased from 2.19 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 2.28 billion in the first quarter this year, according to Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa Telecoms and Media.
"Their total subscription base jumped from 3.76 billion to 3.97 billion in the first quarter 2008 putting the four billion mark in sight," he said.
"At the end of 2007, etisalat announced the acquisition of a 15.97 per cent stake in Indonesia's Exceldomindo, which has a subscriber base of around 13 million. It has also seen strong growth in the UAE as well as in Egypt and Saudi Arabia," Newman said.
"We are on course to achieve our goal of becoming one of the largest operators in the world by 2010," said Mohammad Hassan Omran, etisalat chairman.
"We are continuing to seek new opportunities in countries where technology penetration is low and where we see good potential for returns for our shareholders and investment partners."
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