KUWAIT CITY, April 21, (AFP): National Mobile Telecommunications Company of Kuwait (Wataniya) announced on Wednesday that profits rose 5.9 percent in the first quarter of 2010. Wataniya, in a statement posted on the Kuwait Stock Exchange website, said it posted $56.2 million in net profits for the first three months of the current year, compared with $53.1 million in the same period of 2009.

Net profits for Wataniya, the second-largest mobile firm in Kuwait, rose 31.4 percent to $376 million last year, but only after releasing $204 million in provisions that were tied to a court case the company won.
The firm said its assets had risen slightly to $3.15 billion on March 31, from three billion dollars a year ago, while its shareholders equity surged to $1.73 billion from $1.35 billion over the same period.

Wataniya, in which Qatar Telecom holds a majority stake, operates in Kuwait, Algeria, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the Palestinian territories, serving 12 million subscribers. The Kuwaiti government holds about 25 percent of the company. Two other mobile firms, Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain) and Kuwait Telecommuni-cations Company (VIVA), also operate in the oil-rich Gulf state. At the end of March, Zain signed an agreement to sell its African assets to India’s Bharti Airtel. Global Investment House estimated Wataniya would post 15 million dinars, or a 2 percent fall in profits. Wataniya operates in markets including Algeria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and the Maldives. Wataniya shares were trading flat on the Kuwaiti bourse.