KUWAIT CITY: Kuwaiti telecommunications giant Zain posted a 40-percent increase in net profit in the first quarter of 2011 after a boost in operating efficiency, the company said on Wednesday.
Zain posted a net profit of $251.1 million in January-March of this year compared to $179.1 million in the first quarter of 2010, it said in a statement.
"The operational efficiency drive implemented over the past 12 months has resulted in healthy growth of several key indicators," CEO Nabeel bin Salamah said.
"Additionally, we are reaping the rewards of our extensive investments in network technology upgrades across all our country operations, and we expect such progress to continue for the foreseeable future," he said.
Zain's customer numbers climbed to 37.7 million clients on March 31, compared to 31.4 million a year earlier, and capitalisation dropped to $18.8 billion dollars from $20.5 billion over the same periods.
In 2010, the company sold its operations in 15 African countries for $10.7 billion to India's Bharti Airtel. But a preliminary deal to sell 51 percent of its shares to the UAE's Etisalat for $12 billion was scrapped earlier this year.
Zain, in which the state owns a 24.6-percent stake, is one of three mobile operators in Kuwait, along with the National Telecommunications Co (Wataniya) and Kuwait Telecommunications Co (VIVA).
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