Oman Telco Nawras Extends Profit Slump For Q4

Nawras, Oman’s number two telecoms operator, posted a 13.4 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profit, a fourth consecutive quarterly decline, as falling revenue from texts and on-network calls weighed on the bottom line.

Internet-based services such as instant messaging and Voice-Over-IP phone (VoIP) calls have hurt margins of Gulf telecoms companies as the region’s large expatriate population has increasingly shifted away from conventional calls and texts to contact home.

Nawras, majority-owned by Qatar Telecom (Qtel), on Sunday reported a net profit of 10.3 million rials ($26.75 million) for the three months to December 31, down from 11.9 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Annual profit for 2012 fell 22.1 per cent to 37 million rials from the year before, it said in a statement. Full-year revenue dipped 1.7 per cent to 193.5 million rials.

The profit slump comes even while Nawras’s customer base increased 11 per cent to 2.2 million.

“The decline in revenue is primarily driven by a reduction in SMS (text) and on-net voice revenue, partially offset by growth in both mobile and fixed data revenues,” Nawras said.

For the fourth quarter, however, the company, which ended Oman Telecommunication Co’s (Omantel) monopoly in 2005, reported revenue of 51.4 million rials, compared with 50.8 million rials a year ago.