Zain Group, the mobile telecommunications services provider across the Middle East and North Africa, achieved growth in its net profits for the first nine months ended September 2021, increasing by 5% to 135 million dinars (450 million dollars).
Zain said the increase in the nine-month consolidated net income was mainly due to the impressive revenue performance of the majority of Group operations, except primarily for Zain Iraq, which had its profitability impacted by the currency devaluation in the country.
Moreover, Group's net income increased on account of successful cost optimization initiatives and loan restructuring across operations and the Group, which resulted in significant savings in financing costs, it said.
The first nine months saw Zain Group invest over USD 665 million in CAPEX reflecting 18% of revenue, mainly in Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH); spectrum fees; 4G upgrades, and 5G rollouts.
Zain Kuwait witnessed impressive growth in 5G consumer and B2B customers, with Zain Saudi Arabia expanding its 5G network to over 51 cities covering all regions in the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Zain joined forces with four regional operators to implement Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) solutions to drive innovation, cost efficiencies, and customer mobile experience.
Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, Bader Al-Kharafi said: “The operational performance that saw net profit growth over the 9M period, despite the huge impact of unavoidable currency devaluations, is testament to the successful implementation of the ‘4Sight’ strategy. I am extremely proud of the digital transformation achievements and network rollouts our teams have accomplished across our footprint, enabling us to continue in our mission to foster sustainable systemic change and provide meaningful connectivity in offering high-quality and appealing services to our customers.”
