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Manama: Bahrain telecommunication Company (Batelco) yesterday announced a record net profit of 70.6 million dinars ($186.8 million) on turn-over of 170.1 million dinars ($450 million) for the first nine months of this year.
The announcement was made by new Batelco chairman Shaikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Khalifa at a board meeting.
The results at the end of the third quarter of 2006 showed an increase in group net profit of 8.3 per cent for the comparable period last year with operating profits showing an even stronger improvement to 13 per cent. Growth in net revenues was 8.2 per cent over the same period.
Data, internet and mobiles services revenues contributed to growth whilst international call revenues declined as a result of fierce price competition from VoIP calling cards with lower quality, prepaid services, the company said.
Operating expenditure has been tightly managed and earnings per share have risen to 59 fils, a 9.2 per cent increase.
Batelco's CEO Peter Kaliaropoulos said the results reflected the implementation of the "Peak Performance" strategy approved by the Board last December.
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