CAIRO - Telecom Egypt, Egypt's landline monopoly, said on Thursday its net profit fell 7.3 per cent in the third quarter, a bigger drop than the average market forecast. The company said its profit for the quarter was 766 million Egyptian pounds ($133 million), which compared with an average forecast of 796 million pounds given by eight analysts in a Reuters poll. The estimates ranged from 614 million to 954 million pounds. Telecom Egypt, which is mostly owned by the Egyptian government, said it had 9.4 million subscribers for its fixed-line telephone service at the end of September. Revenue edged up 1.7 percent in the quarter to 2.6 billion pounds, in line with the average forecast. The company said its retail business now contributed just over half of its revenue and its wholesale business contributed just under half. The firm, which has been moving to diversify away from fixed-line phone services, said it made a net profit of 826 million pounds in the third quarter of 2009. ($1=5.753 Egyptian pounds)
