Telecom Egypt first-quarter net rises on wholesale business

Egypt: Telecom Egypt, the country’s monopoly fixed-line phone company, said its first-quarter profit advanced 1.7 percent on growth of its wholesale business.
Net income for the period that ended March 31 was 912 million Egyptian pounds compared with 897 million pounds ($149 million) a year earlier, the Cairo-based company said in an e- mailed statement today. The average of two analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a profit of 654 million pounds.
The company’s wholesale business, or services provided to other operators who use its infrastructure, generated 57 percent of Telecom Egypt’s total revenues, or 1.52 billion pounds. That’s an increase of 32 percent from last year. Average monthly revenue per user gained 4.2 pounds to 56.6 pounds, it said.
Telecom Egypt shares advanced 1.5 percent to 13 pounds yesterday, valuing the company at 22.2 billion pounds. The stock is down 1.6 percent this year, compared with a 40 percent surge for the benchmark EGX 30 Index. (EGX30)
To contact the reporter on this story: Ahmed A Namatalla in Cairo at anamatalla@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Inal Ersan at iersan@bloomberg.net