Vodafone Qatar’s Q4 net loss widens as capex doubles

DUBAI: Vodafone Qatar reported a wider fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday, despite expanding its customer base, as its capital expenditure doubled.

The telecoms operator, an affiliate of Britain’s Vodafone Group, made a net loss of 66 million riyals (Dh66.6 million, $18.1 million) in the three months to March 31, according to Reuters calculations based on company statements.

That compares with a loss of 33 million riyals in the same period a year earlier for the company, which ended Qatar state-controlled Ooredoo’s domestic monopoly in 2009.

Its financial year starts on April 1.

Beltone Financial had forecast Vodafone Qatar would make a quarterly loss of 70 million riyals.

The operator’s fourth-quarter capital expenditure was 283 million riyals, Reuters calculated based on the company’s financial statements, up from 142 million riyals a year earlier.

Quarterly revenue rose 4 per cent over the same period to 571 million riyals.

The company had 1.44 million subscribers as of March 31, up 9 per cent year-on-year.

Vodafone Qatar, 23 per cent owned by parent Vodafone and 22 per cent owned by a Qatar government-linked fund, made a loss of 216 million riyals in the 12 months to March 31, versus a loss of 246 million riyals in the same period a year before, according to a statement to Doha’s bourse.

It has proposed paying a dividend of 0.21 riyals per share for the full financial year.