Omantel eyes 54% profit rise this year

Muscat: Oman Telecommunications Co (Omantel) hopes to maintain a 54 per cent profit rise this year after its second-quarter profit surged on a rise in user numbers and cost cuts.

The company posted net profit of 74.8 million riyals in the six months ended June 30, up 54.3 per cent from the year-earlier period, it said in a statement on the bourse website yesterday without giving the quarterly figure.

"We are hopeful to maintain the 54 per cent profit growth level this year," Chief Executive Mohammad Al Wohaibi told Reuters from Muscat by telephone.

"The number of [mobile and fixed-line] users are expected to increase by around 9 to 10 per cent."

Net profit in the second quarter rose to 36.36 million riyals [$94.46 million], up 48.8 per cent from the year-earlier period, according to a Reuters calculation based on the company's earlier financial statements.

The second-quarter profit surge was due to the increase in the number of fixed-line and mobile-telephone customers and cost cuts, Wohaibi said.