Dialog profits up but revenues fall in 2007

Profits are up but uncertainty in the north and east and reduced tourist arrivals affected Dialog Telekom revenues last year, the company said this week.

The company also experienced operational and direct cost expansion during the second half of 2007 largely arising from the macro-environment as well as from the application of aggressive focus on the roll-out of multiple new services and expansion of subscriber base.

It has reported a post-tax profit of Rs.10.13 billion in calendar 2007, up 1 per cent from the year ended 31 December 2006.
The company’s mobile business exhibited strong growth with mobile revenues growing by 24% YoY (year on year) and totalling Rs 31.13 billion.

The company’s international business segment continued to exhibit aggressive growth with revenue growth of 51% YoY and contributions of 12% and 6% to the company’s revenue and bottom lines, respectively.

In line with large scale expansion to its coverage footprint and portfolio of services, Dialog Telekom announced an aggressive tariff reduction with a view to expanding the market space and capturing an increasing proportion of incremental subscribers, through the enhancement of the affordability of its services.

The tariff reduction featured discounting of key tariff dimensions by up to 50% resulting in an overall increase in affordability by over 35%. The company has seen requisite results of its endeavours in terms of usage expansion and subscriber and revenue growth.

In terms of group results, consolidated post tax profits were Rs. 8.97 billion. Negative contributions from DTV (Rs. 788.53 million) and DBN (Rs. 317.96 million) resulted in the dilution of company earnings by a total of Rs. 1.1 billion (inclusive of consolidation adjustments) resulting in negative growth of 11% with respect to consolidated group earnings.