Egypt’s leading telecommunications company, Telecom Egypt, Thursday reported an increase in profits for 2007.
Telecom Egypt, the country’s semi-private telecommunications company, said that net profit for 2007 was approximately 2.5 billion Egyptian pounds (US$ 460 million), over 4 per cent from the previous year.
Analysts were somewhat surprised by the overall profit, saying that investment in Algeria could have impaired the company’s profits.
Obviously, this did not adversely affect the overall outcome. “2007 was a year of focused growth in our subscriber base. The fourth quarter was particularly strong in terms of net additions, resulting from the market’s positive response to our promotional activities,” said Akil Beshir, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Egypt.
The company’s increase in profits was marked by a widespread rise in Internet users in Egypt, where more and more Egyptians are getting connected.
Prices of service continue to fall and services are improving, despite an outage earlier this year caused by cables in the Mediterranean being severed.
Sales revenue rose five per cent to 9.99 billion Egyptian pounds, up from only 710 million in 2006.
Telecom Egypt, UK-listed, is the largest provider of fixed-lines in the Middle East with more than 10.5 million customers as at December 2006.
The company said they hope to continue the success in 2008, including improving on the situation in Algeria where the company received losses in the previous year. Panapress.
