ASIF IQBAL

DOHA

VODAFONE Qatar, the second telecom operator in the country, on Wednesday said it narrowed its half yearly net loss by 24 percent to QR237 million. In the same period last year the company reported a loss of QR 312 million.

The mobile operator didn’t provide numbers for the second quarter.

Addressing a press conference to announce the company’s results, Vodafone Qatar CFO John Tombleson said that increase in customer numbers which stood at 814,000 in H1 helped the company post a revenue of QR 590 million, an increase of 53 percent.

First-half earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were QR65 million, compared with a QR32 million loss a year earlier, Tombleson added.

Commenting on the capital expenditure (capex), Tombleson said the company had already spent QR 122 million in the first half of the year and would spend another QR270 million in the second half.

Last year Vodafone had allocated QR 475 million for capital expenditure.

“Long term total capital intensity is expected to stabilise at 10 percent of revenue form 2015 onwards,” the CFO added.

Vodafone was listed on the Qatari bourse in July 2009 and is battling high start-up costs. The group is paying off the hefty QR7.72 billion it spent on the mobile licence fee for Qatar.

Later the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Richard Daly said the company would soon have a hard launch of the fixed line in The Pearl and would have a trial broadband in Barwa City in February in 2012.

Asked if the company has plans to upgrade its network to 4G, Daly said the company wants to focus on the fixed line and 3G network and then it would think of the 4G.