Vodafone Qatar, the State of Qatar’s second telecommunications provider announced that it would book a profit in the next quarter. This is a significant upturn for the business, owned by Britain’s Vodafone and shows real progress since its launch in June…
Vodafone Qatar, the State of Qatar’s second telecommunications provider announced that it would book a profit in the next quarter. This is a significant upturn for the business, owned by Britain’s Vodafone and shows real progress since its launch in June 2008.
Net loss for the 1Q’10 narrowed to QR148.7m (US$40.9m), down 5% from QR155.7m (US$42.8m) in the previous quarter.
Predicting a profit for the current quarter on an EBITDA basis, CEO Grahame Maher said at a press conference, “We are right on the edge of profit now. We see getting to EBITDA quite quickly, faster than we would normally experience because of the ability to draw on Vodafone’s global footprint.” Maher said he expects the company to start paying dividends and report free cash flows by 2013.
The company has been fighting an increasingly hostile battle to block the entry of Virgin Mobile into the Qatari market. In May the company announced it was taking legal action against Qatar’s telecom regulator for allowing Virgin Mobile in. Virgin signed a partnership deal with Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel) in May, under which Qtel will offer a prepaid mobile service under the Virgin brand. Vodafone Qatar argues that this makes Virgin a third provider, in breach of the licence terms agreed when it entered the Qatari market.
Vodafone Qatar is jointly controlled by Vodafone and the Qatari government.
