KUWAIT CITY, Feb 23: Wataniya Telecom (National Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C. - Ticker: NMTC) is pleased to announce its financial results for the year 2010:
Operational Highlights
n Total customer base increased to 16.6 million at the close of Q4 2010, versus 15.2 million at the same period in 2009: growth of 9.5 percent
n Revenues for the year 2010 amounted to KD 539.4 million ($1.9 billion), compared with KD 475.5 million ($1.7 billion) for the same period in 2009: growth of 13.5 percent
n EBITDA for the year was KD 216.6 million ($771.5 million), compared to EBITDA of KD 187.6 million ($668.2 million) for the same period in 2009: growth of 15.5 percent
n The Company achieved consolidated Net Profit of KD 78.0 million ($277.9 million) for the year 2010, compared to the KD 108.3 million ($385.7 million) in the same period 2009. However, excluding the one-off gain in 2009 which resulted from the positive outcome of the MOC license fee legal case, Net Profit grew by KD 21.8 million ($77.7 million); growth of 38.8 percent.
n The consolidated earnings per share of 156 fils (55 cents), compared to the 216 fils (77 cents) per share earned for the same period last year.

HE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani, Chairman of Wataniya Telecom commented:
“The year 2010 was another successful period for Wataniya Telecom showing continuous growth in customers, revenue and EBITDA. In our home market of Kuwait we continue to address the competitive pressures and we have increased our share of the market. Wataniya Telecom Group’s revenue has increased by 13.5 percent and EBITDA has increased by 15.5 percent compared with the same period in 2009.
The Algeria operation (Nedjma) increased its revenue by 23.5 percent and EBITDA increased by 41.8 percentcompared with 2009 leading to first annual net profit. In Palestine, the business has developed well with more than 350,000 customers and, after the year end, saw the launch of Wataniya Mobile as a public shareholding company following a successful oversubscribed IPO.

Review of Operations
The Group’s operational performance can be summarized as follows:
Wataniya – Kuwait
Wataniya Kuwait’s customer base increased to 1.78 million customers at the end of 2010, an increase of 15.7 percent on 2009. Revenues for the year 2010 were KD 221.6 million ($789.3 million), an increase of 9.0 percent compared to revenues for the same period in 2009 of KD 203.3 million ($724.1 million). EBITDA for the year 2010 was KD 98.9 million ($352.2 million) compared to EBITDA for the same period in 2009 of KD 93.6 million ($333.3 million). Net profit was at KD 69.8 million ($248.6 million), compared to net profit for the same period in 2009 of KD 109.2 million ($388.7 million).

Note 1. In Q2 2009, Wataniya Kuwait was successful in a ruling involving the Ministry of Communications regarding subscriber license fees, which enabled the company to reverse the previously recorded accruals of KD 52.1 million (net of related expenses) resulting in an increase in net profits. After excluding the one-off gains in the year 2009, Net Profit increased by 22.2 percent for the year 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.
Note 2. In 2009 Earning release EBITDA was reported as KD190.2 million. The difference is due the reclassification of MOC license fee (Postpaid subscribers) from below EBITDA to above EBITDA.

Tunisiana – Tunisia
The Tunisiana customer base at the end of 2010 stood at 5.93 million customers: an increase of 13.8 percent on 2009. Revenues for the year 2010 were KD 101.0 million ($359.7 million), compared to revenues for the same period in 2009 of KD 102.3 million ($364.5 million). EBITDA for the year 2010 was KD 55.9 million ($199.1 million) from KD 55.2 million ($196.6 million) for the same period last year representing an increase of 1.3 percent. The net attributable profit to Wataniya Telecom for the year 2010 were KD 23.6 million ($84.1 million), compared to KD 23.7 million ($84.5 million) for the same period in 2009.

Nedjma – Algeria
The Nedjma customer base at the end 2010 was 8.25 million customers: an increase of 2.7 percent on 2009. Nedjma posted revenue growth with revenues for the year 2010 standing at KD 174.7 million ($622.1 million) an increase of 23.5 percent compared with revenues of KD 141.4 million ($503.8 million) for the same period in 2009. EBITDA for year 2010 was KD 65.9 million ($234.8 million), an increase of 41.8 percent on KD 46.5 million ($165.6 million) for the same period in 2009. The total net profit for the year 2010 was KD 2.9 million ($10.2 million) compared to the total net loss of KD 9.8 million ($35.0 million) for the same period in 2009. The net attributable profit to Wataniya Telecom in the year 2010 was KD 2.0 million ($7.2 million) compared to a net attributable loss of KD 7.0 million ($24.8 million) for the same period in 2009.

Bravo – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Bravo’s customer base stood at 0.20 million at the end of 2010, an increase of 8.3 percent from 2009. Revenues for the year 2010 increased to KD 22.1 million ($78.6 million) from KD 20.1 million ($71.6 million) for the same period in 2009. The total net loss for the year 2010 was KD 7.0 million ($25.0 million) compared to a total net loss of KD 11.1 million ($39.5 million) for the same period in 2009. The net attributable loss to Wataniya Telecom for the year 2010 was KD 3.9 million ($13.9 million), a 36.7 percent improvement compared to the loss of KD 6.2 million ($22.0 million) for the same period in 2009.

Wataniya – Maldives
Total customers at the 2010 were 0.11 million. Revenues were KD 9.2 million ($32.6 million) for the year 2010 compared to KD 7.7 million ($27.4 million) for the same period 2009. EBITDA for the year 2010 was KD 1.2 million ($4.2 million) compared to an EBITDA of 0.4 million ($1.5 million) for the same period in 2009. The net attributable loss for the year 2010 was KD 4.7 million ($16.7 million) compared to the loss of KD 3.3 million ($11.7 million) for the same period in 2009.

Wataniya - Palestine
Total customers at the end of 2010 was 0.35 million. Revenues were KD 10.9 million ($38.9 million) for the year 2010. Total net loss for 2010 was KD 16.1 million ($57.3 million), and the net attributable loss was KD 9.1 million ($32.3 million) for the same period.