Driven by its successful digital strategy across various key markets and “positive” forex movements, Ooredoo Group has posted a half yearly (H1) net profit of nearly QR1.5bn, up 46% on the same period in 2015.
The group earned revenue of QR16bn facilitated by local currency growth in Qatar, Oman, Indonesia, Myanmar, Algeria, Kuwait, Palestine and the Maldives. 
“Excluding foreign exchange translation impact, revenues would have increased 2%, compared to the reported decline of 1%,” Ooredoo said last night.
Group EBITDA was stable at QR6.5bn with an improved EBITDA margin of 41% compared to last year, which Ooredoo said, indicates a “continued improvement” in operational performance from Q1 2016. 
Excluding foreign exchange translation impact, Group EBITDA would have increased by 3% year-on-year.
Revenue from data contributed QR6.2bn in H1, 2016, with data revenue increasing to 39% of Group revenue, Ooredoo said.  
Ooredoo Group customer base increased by 14% to 130mn, which, the telecom company said, was driven by “strong growth” in Indonesia and Myanmar.
In Qatar, Ooredoo customer numbers reached 3.4mn approximately in line with H1, 2015.
Ooredoo’s Qatar revenue was just over QR4bn, a 1% increase compared to H1, 2015. 
H1 2016 EBITDA stood at QR2bn and net profit at QR1bn — both in line with the previous year.
Ooredoo continued to take the lead in digital services and network performance in Qatar with a number of significant upgrades. These included the addition of the Category 9 LTE — advanced standard to its mobile network, deploying multiple 4G frequency bands to support download speeds of up to 325Mbps.
The company also launched a new 1Gbps Fibre plan during the period, the fastest home Internet service in Qatar, and the high-end “Platinum HomeZone” service, which offers full Wi-Fi Internet coverage for customers with large villas and mansions.
Ooredoo pursued its strategy of positioning itself as the leading integrated ICT provider in Qatar, providing support to Qatari organisations and enterprises including Qatar Rail and Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Ooredoo Qatar is building the region’s first 5G research and development centre in Doha in collaboration with a number of global technology leaders.
On the results, Ooredoo Group chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani said, “This has been a good first half of the year for Ooredoo. Despite the challenges of the global economy and a number of market specific issues, Ooredoo continues to generate value. We are successfully implementing our digital strategy across our markets, making world-class communication services available to our consumer and enterprise customers. 
“The investments we are making in our data networks and services are leading to good operational trends across the business. Customers increasingly see Ooredoo as a digital communications company, offering the best services across our voice and data networks.”
Also on the results,  Ooredoo Group chief executive officer Sheikh Saud bin Nasser al-Thani said, “We have seen some good operational improvements across our businesses during the first six months of the year.”
Both revenue and EBITDA were robust for the period at QR16bn and QR6.5bn respectively. Group EBITDA margin actually improved to 41% driven by better efficiencies in the following countries — Indonesia, Algeria, Myanmar, and Iraq. Revenue growth continued in Oman and Qatar. 
“We now have eight of our 10 operators within the Ooredoo Group offering 4G networks. Data growth across the business has been strong, reflecting our ability to deliver highly valued data services to our customers across best in class data networks. Data as a percentage of group revenue is now 39%, compared to 34% for the first half of 2015.”