Manama, Bahrain: Batelco Chairman Shaikh Hamad Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa announced that Batelco Group has exceeded the 10 million customers mark across its operations as the Company celebrates its 30th anniversary serving the Kingdom of Bahrain. Batelco is Bahrain`s largest telecom.

Following a Board Meeting on July 20th 2011, Batelco's Chairman announced for the half year 2011, a net profit of BD38.8 million ($102.9 million) against gross revenues of BD163.2 million ($432.9 million). Earnings per share were 26.9 fils and the Board of Directors approved an interim cash dividend of 20 fils per share.

"We are extremely pleased with the continuing growth of our customer numbers, which have increased by nearly 500,000 since Q1 to now reach 10.3 million. Despite the intense competitive nature of the Bahrain market, we are also pleased that we have retained market leadership for mobile services and data network solutions," said Shaikh Hamad.

Batelco Group Chief Executive Officer, Peter Kaliaropoulos said that Batelco's financial results for the half year 2011 remain consistent with market guidance.

"Batelco's consolidated gross revenues of BD163.2 million declined by 4% compared to the same period last year. However, our Q2 versus Q1 results delivered 2% growth in gross revenues, flat operating profit at BD22.7M and growth in net profit," said Mr. Kaliaropoulos.

The Batelco Group Chief Executive reiterated Batelco's achievement in growing its customer base.

"We continue to focus on executing our business strategy which is underpinned by growth in customer base and diversification of revenues and profits," stated Mr Kaliaropoulos.

"The collective efforts of our people have resulted in a customer base of over 10.3 million. Also 37% of our revenues and 25% of our operating profit are now sourced from markets outside Bahrain delivering sound diversification of our business operations."

"Our Group mobile customer base grew by 12% to 9.89 million since Q4 2010 while our Group Broadband customer base has grown by 8% during the same period."

The Group's 96% owned subsidiary in Jordan, Umniah, continues to deliver a solid performance and reported an 8% increase in its number of mobile subscribers since the beginning of the year, with their customer base now standing at 2.3 million.

STel in India now delivers mobile services to 3.3 million customers, a 43% increase since the beginning of 2011.

In Bahrain, Batelco's total mobile customer base has improved marginally showing an increase of 2% since Q1, 2011. However, while Batelco's wireless broadband services grew by 14% the fixed line services continued to show decline, as more and more customers migrate to mobile services.

"Mobile and broadband operators in Bahrain continue to add new customers; however, revenues per customer are declining whilst costs to acquire and retain customers are growing. In a highly penetrated market for mobiles (150% of population) and broadband (110% of households and businesses) with 3 mobile operators, this is a natural competitive consequence," Mr. Kaliaropoulos said.

"Our priority in Bahrain is to offer better value to our customers and focus on retention and higher usage per customer. Selective cost reductions and cash flow management are also key priorities for our Bahrain Operations whilst ensuring we remain innovative with new services and customer care. Our cash balance of BD87 million grew by 94% since the same period last year and we remain debt free and in a strong position to raise funds for future expansion of our group," he added.

Best Product line up for our 30th Anniversary Year

"As part of our 30th anniversary year celebrations we have already launched some tremendous offers to benefit our customers including a BD4 Bolt On offer with unlimited National Calls for mobile customers and an unmatched deal for BlackBerry SimSim customers which includes a free handset and 100MB data usage per month, for a year, all for a once off payment of BD100."

"Furthermore, between February and June of this year, we carried out automatic upgrades to benefit our Broadband consumers and business customers by delivering a combination of faster speeds, higher threshold limits and lower prices across all our Broadband packages. Batelco delivers speed of up to 16MB for its range of fixed Broadband packages and up to 21MB for Mobile Broadband."

"This is just the beginning and we look forward to rolling out our best ever line-up that aims to deliver something special for all Batelco's customers for all services," he added.

Overseas Expansion on Track

"The Batelco-Kingdom Consortium has addressed all key matters of interest to Zain KSA and Zain Group relating to the due diligence exercise. All parties are now working closely to complete this phase of the transaction," said Mr. Kaliaropoulos.

Supporting the Community

"Over our 30 years as a Bahraini shareholding company we have been amongst the leading local companies when it comes to supporting the local community through sponsorships and donations.

"In line with our policy to support health, education, sports and cultural initiatives, we have already paid out over BD500,000 in the first six months of this year," said Shaikh Hamad.

Batelco Group CEO Mr. Kaliaropoulos concluded by saying that Batelco is clearly focused on market leadership in Bahrain by providing excellent customer care, a full range of services and better value to its customer base. The Group is also pursuing the profitable growth of market share in key overseas locations and delivering synergies across operations.

"We all are privileged to have the opportunity to serve the public and the industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain over the past 30 years. We will continue to innovate and offer many reasons to our customers to ensure we enjoy their loyalty over the years ahead," concluded Mr. Kaliaropoulos.

This press release has been issued by Batelco's Corporate Affairs department. For further information, please contact: Batelco Board Secretary and Group GM Media Relations Ahmed Al Janahi; TEL: +973 1788 4411, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.