UPDATE 1-Orascom Telecom hits target of 50 mln subscribers http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=media&storyID=nL07745150&imageid=&cap=
Thu Dec 7, 2006
(Adds details of company operations)
CAIRO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Egypt's Orascom Telecom (ORTE.CA: Quote, Profile, Research) (ORTEq.L: Quote, Profile, Research), one of the biggest mobile operators in the Middle East, said on Thursday it had achieved its target of 50 million subscribers this year and aimed to double that number by 2009. Orascom said subscribers had risen by 67 percent to 50 million from 30 million a year ago.
The latest figure indicates that subscribers continue to grow at an annualised rate of more than 40 percent. In September there were 46.5 million.
Orascom Chairman Naguib Sawiris said in a statement that the company had set 50 million as its target for this year and had achieved it. "I look forward to hitting the 100 million subscriber mark by 2009," he added.
Orascom reported a 1.4 percent increase in net profit to $601.8 million in the first nine months of 2006.
It has mobile phone operations in Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and an alliance with Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. (2332.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) (HTX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which gives it a foothold in East Asia.
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