Saudi Telecom Company, the biggest telecoms operator in the kingdom by market value, reported a 1.3 per cent increase in first-quarter net profit as it achieved double-digit revenue growth.
Net profit increased to 2.9 billion Saudi riyals ($773.3 million) in the three months to March 31, the company said in a statement to Saudi Arabia's Tadawul stock exchange, where its shares trade. Revenue for the quarter rose 12.6 per cent year-on-year to 15.6bn riyals.
“Results for this quarter as compared to the comparable quarter last year [were] distinct,” STC's group chief executive Olayan Alwetaid said.
Revenue growth was supported by an increase in its consumer business unit, where there was growth "in the broadband & fixed wireless access subscriber base by 10.1 per cent, FTTH [fibre-to-the-home] by 26 per cent, working lines by 3.1 per cent and data revenue by 4.5 per cent", Mr Alwetaid said.
The company's enterprise business unit’s revenue grew 33.4 per cent, following an increase in demand for the company's services and products, he added.
STC is majority owned by the kingdom's Public Investment Fund, which holds a 70 per cent stake in the company.
The telecoms operator, which has its headquarters in Riyadh, has about 13,500 employees in Saudi Arabia and more than 19,000 across the group.
Operating expenses were cut by 116m riyals in the first quarter as selling and marketing costs fell by 55m riyals and general and administration expenditures reduced by 95m riyals, STC said.
STC, which launched a new supercomputer Dammam 7 in January, also proposed an interim dividend of 1 riyal per share , equating to about 2bn riyals, to its shareholders for the first quarter.
The company is also rolling out a fifth-generation network across the kingdom. By February, it had deployed its 5G network in more than 47 cities.
