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Manama: Bahrain Telecommunications Co (Batelco) made a second-quarter net profit of 27.52 million dinars ($73.02 million), up 13.6 per cent from the year-earlier period.
Bahrain's Sico investment bank forecast in a Reuters survey last month that Batelco would make 25.2 million dinars in the quarter. Revenue grew 30 per cent to 69.86 million dinars in the second quarter, the company said. Earnings per share were 23 fils compared with 21 fils in the second quarter of 2006.
Expansion
A Batelco-led consortium was one of three bidders granted initial approval in April to operate a fixed-line network in Saudi Arabia. In March the firm bought a 20 per cent stake in Yemeni mobile operator SabaFon. Batelco is among firms competing for a mobile licence in Qatar, which is planning to end the last Arab telecom monopoly.
Bahrain's telecom watchdog approved Batelco's plan to slash broadband rates for some business tariffs by up to 50 per cent in July. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has exerted increasing pressure on Batelco in recent months to cut prices, including wholesale rates - fees charged to rival operators for the use of Batelco's extensive telecom network.
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