Tanzania Telecoms Cellular Firm Posts Profit

The number of subscribers for one of the leading participants in the Tanzania telecom sector, the Zain Group, doubled to 63.5 million last year; since then, the company has recently posted a net profit of USD 1.2 billion, which translates to USD 0.33 per share.

According to a recent statement that was released by the company, this recent net profit comes as the result of revenue of USD 7.44 billion.

“For 2008, Zain Group recorded all time high consolidated revenues of $ 7.441 billion, an increase of 26 per cent compared with 2007, “read the statement, “Consolidated net profits reached $ 1.2 billion, an increase of six per cent on 2007.”

The statement went on to indicate that the company experienced a 50 percent year-on-year customer growth was 50 percent spanning across the two continents in which the Zain Group operates, serving a total of 63.54 million managed active customers as of December 31, 2008.”

Based on the strength and results of this performance, Zain will pay off USD 1.8 billion in financial obligations.

In addition to its operations in Tanzania, the Zain Group also operates out of Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia.

Officially, the statement that was released by the Zain Group does not disclose financial figures Tanzania or any other specific markets, but it does indicate that over one million customers were subscribed in the country during the course of the year.

Representatives for the company said that the customer base for Zain Tanzania was over four million.

According to a report by the Citizen, Saad Al Barrak, the chief executive officer for Zain, said that the recent success of the company was achieved in the midst of a difficult environment and massive investments in network expansion.

Dr. Al Barrak went on to say that during the course of the year, Zain dedicated more than USD 3 billion to network upgrades and  market expansion projects in Ghana, Iraq, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.

In addition, Dr. Al Barrak said that he felt confident that these new markets will continue to grow, thus creating further rewards and benefits for the Zain Group.

“We firmly believe that the Zain brand will act as a catalyst and propel the company to our 2011 target of being a top-ten global operator,” said Dr. Al Barrak, “Overall, due to our massive network investment across all operations, we expect and are targeting a 30 per cent increase on many of our financial indicators in 2009.”