CAIRO: Egypt's Orascom Telecom, the parent company of the second largest mobile operator Mobinil, reported a net loss of $58.5 million for the second quarter, despite an upsurge in short-term revenues was countered by higher taxes in Tunisia. The company was purchased by Russia's Vimpelcom in March and has been struggling to maintain profit margins as political unrest in North Africa continues to wrack the telecom sector. The company, according to Reuters news agency, had been expected to report profits of $64 million. Operations outside Egypt played a key part in its performance, a company statement revealed. Orascom currently has units in Algeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, North Korea, Namibia and the Central African Republic. Orascom's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew 8 percent in the quarter to $476 million, driven by their Algerian subsidiary Djezzy – where subscriber numbers were up five percent from a year earlier – and its south Asian businesses. Total revenues came in at around $1 billion, 1.6 percent above industry predictions. It was a rise of 5.5 percent on the first quarter but down from $1.06 billion a year earlier. In Egypt, its Mobinil venture with France Telecom boosted subscribers by 17 percent, but average revenue per user dipped 15 percent due to “intense” competition, Orascom said. The Egyptian unit has also recently announced it has lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers as a result of the “Mickey” Twitter incident that saw Orascom chief Naguib Sawiris post what Islamists in the country felt was an “insulting” cartoon of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse dressed in conservative Islamic garb. BM
