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Bahrain: Batelco, Bahrain's telecommunications company, announced a half-year growth in gross revenues to BD160.5 million ($425.7m), a 17.7 per cent increase over the same period of 2007.
The company also reported slightly lower net profit of BD50.8 million ($134.7m), or a 2.8 per cent decrease compared to 2007, equivalent to earnings per share of 35.3 fils. The Board of Directors approved an interim cash dividend of 20 fils per share.
Batelco's Chief Executive Officer Peter Kaliaropoulos, said that the Batelco Group continued to deliver very strong double-digit revenue growth ending the half-year at $425.7m. Growth was driven mainly by overseas operations, which now represent 33 per cent of Batelco's revenues.
The Group's 96 per cent owned subsidiary in Jordan Umniah, has delivered significant year-on-year revenue growth of 59 per cent buoyed by a 61 per cent increase in the number of mobile subscribers, with a customer base now standing at 1,314,000.
Sabafon, in which the Group holds a 26.94 per cent equity investment, has delivered a 30 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue with the mobile subscribers base increasing by 16 per cent, for a total customer base of 1,889,000.
Batelco's mobile customer base in Bahrain, Jordan and Yemen has reached 3.8 million. In Bahrain there are 70,000 customers registered to Batelco's broadband services and the total number of telephone lines has steadied at 202,000.
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