Wataniya Telecom has proved its ability to sustain profitable growth in a region where the telecommunication industry is increasingly competitive, its chairman says.

The company’s profits surged 21 per cent in 2004 over the previous year to reach KD40 million ($135 million).
The Kipco firm’s extraordinary achievements in 2004 are due to several factors  including interna-tional expansion, a new executive management with strong telecommunications experience, technological investments and a strong belief in operating a customercentric company, said chairman Faisal Hamad Al Ayyar.
“As part of its strategy to provide long-term shareholder value, Wataniya Telecom continues to focus on the international arena for investment opportunities in underdeveloped markets where there is a demand for progressive mobile telecommunications.”
Wataniya’s ownership of operations in Tunisia, Iraq, Algeria and Kuwait helps serve a customer base of more than 2,65 million customers, an increase of 96 per cent compared with the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2004, Wataniya Telecom entered a licence agreement to provide the people of Maldives with the latest mobile telecommunications.
“Wataniya Telecom holds the leadership position in providing value-added services to its customers and networks in all of the countries in which it operates,” said Al Ayyar. “The company seamlessly enhanced its GPRS capacity to market its Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) beyond Kuwait, resulting in agreements signed by Wataniya Telecom with Starhub in Singapore, MobileCom in Jordan, Batelco in Bahrain, CSL in Hong Kong, Etisilat in the UAE, Orange in the UK, Smart Communication in the Philippines, and T Mobile in the U.S.
The company invested in EDGE to provide high-speed data transfer services and Internet connections.