Kuwait’s Wataniya Telecom (National Mobile Telecommunications Company) has posted a 2005 first-quarter consolidated net profit of KD12.2 million ($41.6 million) or 28 fils (10 cents) per share, an increase of 11 per cent over the corresponding period in 2004.

Among the highlights of the first quarter was the signing by the company’s Wataniya International subsidiary of a management agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Telecommunications Company (PTC) which enables it to manage the operations of it’s digital trunked cellular network.
“We are pleased to announce that the company experienced a solid first quarter, which was complemented by the acquisition of 38 per cent of PTC, and the continued network buildout in the Maldives,” remarked Faisal Al Ayyar, chairman of Wataniya Telecom.
 Among the highlights of Wataniya Telecom Group’s first quarter was that revenues grew to KD73.4 million, up 8 per cent compared with the previous quarter’s revenues and up 41 per cent compared with the first quarter in 2004.
Total active customers increased to 3.24 million compared with 2.65 million in the previous quarter.
In Kuwait, Wataniya Telecom continued its programme of investing in the latest network elements and deploying Edge technology throughout the country. Its base increased to 861,895 active customers. Revenues for the first quarter were KD36.3 million compared with KD35.1 million in the first quarter of 2004.
Commenting on some of the group’s operations, Al Ayyar said Algeria’s economic recovery and expansion was positively affecting the cellular mobile market where market penetration had increased from 7 per cent to more than 18 per cent in the 7 months since Wataniya’s commercial launch.
Wataniya Telecom Algerie, operating under the trade name Nedjma, surpassed 474,000 customers, since its launch on August 25, 2004. Nedjma has significantly improved its network deployment and now covers 50 per cent of the Wilayas (states) in Algeria. Revenues for Q1 were KD6.2 million. The net attributable loss to Wataniya Telecom in Q1 was KD3.7 million.
On Iraq, Al Ayyar said the GSM mobile penetration had grown to 7 per cent from virtually nothing 15 months ago.
“I expect that by the end of this year, there will be more than 3 million total GSM customers in Iraq.  Valuations of operations have risen significantly in the markets where we have invested, proving that our investment strategy was correct years ago,” the official added.
The net attributable profit to Wataniya Telecom from its partnership in Asia-Cell in Q1 was KD900,000.
Market demand in Tunisia for GSM mobile services expanded rapidly with the total mobile market reaching 40 per cent penetration of which Tunisiana, Wataniya Telecom’s partner, captured 32 per cent of the market.
Tunisiana achieved an active customer base of 1.27 million, an increase of 22 per cent over the previous quarter. The net attributable profit to Wataniya Telecom from Tunisiana in Q1 was KD350,000.