(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Kuwait-based telecommunications company, Wataniya Telecom announced that the number of subscribers reached 17.8 million in all its subsidiaries in various countries around the world.
Qatari Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani, the Chairman of Wataniya Telecom said in a speech to employees here Wednesday that Wataniya raised its stake in "Tunisiana" from 50 to 75 percent over the past year.
The operating revenues of Wataniya in Kuwait last year have seen a growth of 34.7 percent compared to a year before, he said, explaining that the company has achieved positive results in Kuwait, Algeria and Tunisia in addition to Palestine, which rose the proportion of positive growth for the group in general.
The company, he said, will continue during the current year to invest in the modernization and expansion of infrastructure, "to be able to develop and expand the scope of what is practiced by the business after the encouraging results achieved last year," noting that the company adopted cash dividend by 50 percent of the nominal value per share (of 50 fils per share) to shareholders registered on the current assembly.
Al-Thani stressed that the company continues to hold contacts on approaching in Tunisia for a "third generation (3G)", fixed-line and Internet services license, indicating that the number of subscribers in Tunisiana network rose to 6.6 million, with an increase of 700,000 subscribers.
The vision and strategy under which the company is working, "has given it the ability to cope with the rapid changes that arise in the telecommunications sector, due to the evolution of technologies and changing customer needs," Al-Thani said. He added that with the inherent force in the business model adopted by the company, it "will enable it to continue to progress in terms of profit-making, and harnessing the latest technologies."
Moving the company to modernize the infrastructure in the countries they work in, Al-Thani stressed the aim to provide better and faster Internet services in an effort to increase the revenue of its shareholders, as well as the value coming back, noting that the strong links between Qatar's Qtel and Wataniya Telecom comes of benefit to both parties.
