Earnings call transcript: Ooredoo Q3 2025 beats revenue forecasts, stock rises

Ooredoo Group reported strong financial results for Q3 2025, exceeding revenue forecasts and experiencing a positive stock market reaction. The company posted a revenue of QAR 18.2 billion, marking a 5% increase year-over-year, excluding the Myanmar exit. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at 0.36, with revenue surpassing the forecast by 3.99%. Following these results, Ooredoo’s stock price rose by 3.51%, closing at QAR 13.55.

Key Takeaways

• Ooredoo’s revenue exceeded forecasts by 3.99%, reaching QAR 18.2 billion.
• The company’s net profit increased by 6% to QAR 3.1 billion.
• Strategic investments led to a 46% increase in capex year-over-year.
• The stock price rose 3.51% following the earnings announcement.
• Ooredoo expanded its FinTech operations and data center capacity.

Company Performance

Ooredoo demonstrated robust performance in Q3 2025, with significant growth in revenue and net profit. The company continued to expand its customer base, reaching 53 million, and maintained strong market positions in key regions like Iraq and Algeria. The company’s focus on high-value customer acquisition and premium segments has contributed to its market leadership in Qatar’s FinTech sector.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: QAR 18.2 billion, up 5% year-over-year
• EBITDA: QAR 8 billion, up 5% with a margin of 44%
• Net Profit: QAR 3.1 billion, up 6%
• Capex: QAR 3 billion, up 46% year-over-year
• Free Cash Flow: Just over QAR 5 billion, down 11%

Earnings vs. Forecast

Ooredoo’s revenue of 6.26 billion USD surpassed the forecast of 6.02 billion USD, representing a 3.99% surprise. The EPS of 0.36 also reflected strong financial management and operational excellence. This performance is consistent with the company’s historical trend of exceeding market expectations.

Market Reaction

The market reacted positively to Ooredoo’s earnings report, with the stock price rising by 3.51% to QAR 13.55. This movement contrasts with recent sector trends, highlighting investor confidence in Ooredoo’s strategic direction and financial health. The stock is approaching its 52-week high of QAR 14.37.

Outlook & Guidance

Ooredoo projects a revenue growth of 2-3% for the full year, with an EBITDA margin in the low 40% range. The company plans to invest between QAR 4.5 billion and QAR 5 billion in capex. Upcoming initiatives include a Capital Markets Day on November 3rd to outline strategic priorities and future growth plans.

Executive Commentary

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Group CEO, emphasized the company’s focus on profitability and strategic priorities, stating, "We remain committed to driving strong and sustainable profitability while advancing our strategic priorities." He also highlighted Ooredoo’s operational excellence, contributing to consistent financial performance.

Risks and Challenges

• Regulatory approvals for ongoing projects could delay strategic initiatives.
• Competitive pressures in markets like Oman may impact profitability.
• Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates could affect revenue.
• Political and economic instability in certain regions poses risks.
• Potential market saturation in developed markets may limit growth.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the company’s confidence in exceeding annual guidance and the status of the tower deal awaiting regulatory approval. Ooredoo’s management expressed optimism about market stabilization in Oman and potential equalization payments between $500-700 million.

Full transcript - Ooredoo QPSC (ORDS) Q3 2025:

Luelle Pillay, Head of Investor Relations, Ooredoo Group: Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining Erida Group’s 2025 results call covering the nine month period ending the 30th of September. I’m Luelle Pillay, Head of Investor Relations here at the Group. We’re joined by our Group CEO Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo who will begin with the key highlights for the period. He’ll then delve into the progress of our data center and FinTech verticals before presenting the Group’s consolidated financial results. Following that, our Group CFO Abdulla Ahmad Al Zaman will present a comprehensive review of the operational performance across our nine markets. As always, we aim to keep the presentation concise, allowing enough time for your questions at the end. You’re welcome to submit your questions at any point using the Zoom Q&A function. The presentation deck is available on our website at ooredoo.com and on this webcast platform.

Please note that today’s session is being recorded and transcribed. By participating you acknowledge and consent to this. Before we begin, I’d like to draw your attention to the disclaimer on slide 2. With that, I’ll now hand over to Aziz to begin the presentation.

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Group CEO, Ooredoo Group: Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our Q3 2025 investor call. Let’s begin with a few key highlights. Our strong results reflect the strength of our balanced portfolio. Our GCC markets continue to demonstrate strong cash generation, underscoring their resilience and stability. At the same time, our high growth markets are making an even bigger impact. Now accounting for nearly 47% of Ooredoo’s revenue, up from 44% a year ago, we are delivering consistent profitability thanks to both strong top line growth and continued focus on operational excellence. This quarter we achieved an impressive high single digit growth in both EBITDA and net profit at 9% and 8% respectively. Our balance sheet remains healthy, supporting our plans for ongoing growth. We’re maintaining a strong cash position of just under QAR 16 billion with over QAR 5.5 billion available in undrawn facility, giving us maximum financial flexibility.

We remain fully committed to returning value back to our shareholder and are pleased to announce that the Board has approved an increase in our target dividend payout ratio ranging from 50% to 70% of normalized net profit. This is a clear reflection of our confidence in our business and our disciplined approach to capital allocation. Now turning to our Syntis and FinTech verticals, we’ll be sharing more on these and our other verticals at our upcoming Capital Markets Day where we’ll also take a deeper look at our refreshed strategy. As you recall, we took a major strategic step this year by carving out our data center asset and establishing Syntis as a fully independent entity. This move has given us the focus, speed, and flexibility needed to lead in the digital infrastructure and AI-ready data center solution across the MENA region.

Today, Syntis operates 13 active data centers and holds a market leading position in all three countries where we operate. Our total installed capacity now stands at 20 megawatts. In Qatar we operate six data centers totaling 16 megawatts and an additional 4.5 megawatts will go live by year end. In Tunisia we operate five facilities with 2 megawatts and in Kuwait we operate two facilities with 2.2 megawatts. We continue to work on the carve out of the remaining countries within our footprint. Most of our IT capacity is concentrated in Qatar, accounting for 79% of our total footprint with Kuwait representing 11% and Tunisia 10%. Looking at the financials over the first nine months of the year, Syntis delivered revenues of over QAR 100 million and an EBITDA of QAR 38 million.

In Qatar alone, 68% of our revenue comes from hyperscaler customers, demonstrating the strong partnership and relationship the business is building. We’re investing around $1 billion with half already in place as we scale to reach 120 megawatts of capacity over the next few years. We continue to advance financial inclusion through mobile-led solutions and have growing market share in the international remittance market. We are currently operating in Qatar, Oman, and the Maldives. For the nine-month period, revenue was around QAR 65 million with more than 80% of this coming from international remittances. We’ve invested just under QAR 30 million of capex to enter new markets. We currently have around 348,000 active users each month. In Qatar, we continue to build on the great progress we’ve already made.

We remain the fintech market leader in Qatar where we have processed over $6 billion in transactions with an EBITDA of QAR 26 million. We also continue to scale in Oman where we had great traction with Wallati, which has delivered consistent month-on-month growth of 30% over the last eight months. We continue our OFTI expansion. We received license approval in Tunisia and we are now gearing up for launch with the app scheduled for Q1 2026. In Iraq, we have secured regulatory approval and implementation is underway. Our license applications are currently in progress as well in Kuwait and in Algeria, one of the largest unbanked populations in North Africa. Looking at the group’s performance, the accelerated momentum has delivered impressive results supported by our strategic investment positioning us for even stronger growth ahead.

For the first nine months, we delivered growth across most of our key metrics excluding the impact of our exit from Myanmar. Revenue and EBITDA grew 5%. Our EBITDA margin was strong at 44%. Customers grew by 4%, net profit rose by a healthy 6%. We are maintaining a strong financial position with our net debt to EBITDA ratio at 0.6 times. As shown in the slide, we’ve delivered another strong quarter continuing our growth trajectory. Earlier I highlighted strong Q3 EBITDA and net profit growth. I would also like to draw attention to the impressive revenue growth of 7% and the acceleration in capex of QAR 1.3 billion. Looking at the top line performance, we continue to see an uplift in our revenue driven by operational excellence. Across our markets excluding Myanmar, revenue was up by 5% to QAR 18.2 billion.

QCE revenues saw a strong 7% growth driven by solid performance across most of our operations, partially offset by market-specific conditions in Oman and Palestine. Looking at EBITDA, which continues to expand backed by top line growth, cost discipline, and operational efficiency, excluding Myanmar, EBITDA increased by a healthy 5% to QAR 8 billion in Q3. EBITDA grew by a strong 9%. EBITDA margin was solid at 44%, driven by healthy profitability in Algeria, Kuwait, Iraq, Tunisia, and the Maldives. Net profit is accelerating at an even higher rate than revenue and EBITDA, reflecting enhanced profitability leverage. Net profit grew by an impressive 6% on both a reported and normalized basis to QAR 3.1 billion. In Q3 2025, we delivered double-digit net profit growth of 11% on a normalized basis and 8% on a reported level.

We continue to invest strategically to further strengthen our market position and accelerate our growth. In the first nine months, we invested just under QAR 3 billion, up 46% year over year, reflecting increased investments in Iraq, Algeria, Syntis, and Tunisia. Turning to free cash flow, the strategic capex acceleration to capture growth opportunities is having a transitional impact on free cash flows, reducing it by 11% to just over QAR 5 billion in Q3. Free cash flow was lower mainly in Iraq and Algeria, where we’re investing more capex to support continued growth along with ongoing data center expansion under Syntis. Thanks to our superior network and services, our customer base keeps growing and our focused initiatives are supporting growth. By the end of Q3, we had around 53 million customers across our network, an increase of 4%. Including IOH, our customer base is just under 148 million subscribers.

Over 75% of our customers are in Iraq, Algeria, and Tunisia, which are all growth markets. Turning to the balance sheet, the chart here illustrates a strong, healthy financial position. We have strong liquidity and a well-structured debt profile with most maturities extending to 2030 and beyond. Our leverage remains low at 0.6 times, below board’s guidance. We are structurally hedged against interest rate fluctuation as 91% of our debt is on a fixed rate. Most of our debt is in the form of bonds. We are pleased to note the successful repayment of the $750 million bond that matured earlier this month. We maintain investment-grade ratings from both S&P and Moody’s. Turning to an update on our dividend policy, this rationale for change is clear. Over the past three years, we’ve consistently paid dividends at the upper end of our policy range.

From 2020 to 2024, we’ve achieved an impressive dividend per share growth of 160%. Our financial position remains strong with healthy liquidity, low leverage, and consistent earnings and cash flows. In shaping our updated dividend policy, we’ve aligned with best practice while maintaining flexibility to invest in future growth. Following a thorough review, the Board has approved an increase in our dividend payout range. Historically, it stood at 40% to 60% and today from 50% to 70% of normalized net profit. This upgrade reinforces our commitment to returning value to shareholders while maintaining disciplined capital allocations. To conclude, I have taken you through our strong results which indicate that we remain firmly on track to achieve our full year’s guidance. We expect revenue growth between 2% to 3% and EBITDA margin in the low 40% range. Additionally, full-year capex is projected to range between 4.5 to 5 billion riyals.

We remain committed to driving strong and sustainable profitability while advancing our strategic priorities. We look forward to sharing more on our growth plans and refreshed strategy at our upcoming Capital Markets Day on the 3rd of November. We hope you can join us. On this note, I leave it to Abdulla Ahmad Al Zaman to take you through our operational review.

Abdulla Ahmad Al Zaman, Group CFO, Ooredoo Group: Thank you Aziz. Good afternoon everyone. I’m pleased to share the group’s strong operational performance for the first nine months of 2025 starting with our home market Ooredoo Qatar. Ooredoo Qatar maintained a positive momentum thanks to its market leading position and a strong presence in the premium segment. The financial momentum is clear with normalized revenue up by 2% driven by an uplift in ICT revenue. EBITDA also increased by 2% on a normalized basis. The operation continues to maintain excellent profitability with EBITDA margin at 52%. The customer base stood at 2.9 million with the mobile postpaid customer growing by 3.6% reflecting ongoing demand for our premium offering. Moving to Kuwait, the operation maintained its strong growth trend in a mature market. Impressive service revenue growth of 8% was a key contributor to the strong result driven by higher ARPU and the ongoing acquisition of quality customers.

Revenue increased by 4% thanks to the accelerated service revenue growth partially offset by modernization in device sales, normalizing for one-off bad debt provisions recorded in 2024 and 2025. Ooredoo Kuwait delivered double-digit EBITDA growth of 17% driven by higher service revenue and disciplined cost management. EBITDA margin expanded to 32%, up by 6 percentage points. The customer base increased by 1% to 2.9 million. Turning to Oman, the operation delivered another quarter of resilient profitability in a highly competitive market. Looking ahead, we expect the regulatory change from the TRA to further support profitability in the market. Revenue decreased by 4% due to lower service revenue and device sales. EBITDA was down by 7% reflecting top line headwinds. EBITDA margin remains healthy and resilient at 45%. The customer base grew by 8% to 3 million.

In Iraq, Asiacell delivered another excellent performance, continuing to make a positive contribution to the group overall result. Revenue increased by a strong 8% supported by customer growth and solid performance. On the data segment, EBITDA increased by 5% supported by strong revenue growth driven by strategic network investment. The increase in OpEx was due to network investment which is expected to support long-term growth and improve profit margins. The operation maintained a solid EBITDA margin at 46%. The customer base grew by a notable 6% to 19.8 million. Moving to Algeria, which is also a strong driver of the group overall growth. Ooredoo Algeria delivered an impressive performance with double-digit growth. Revenue increased by 14% in local currency, driven by strong momentum across voice and data services. EBITDA grew by an outstanding 21%, with an EBITDA margin of 46%, up by 3 percentage points.

The customer base grew by 3% to 15 million year on year on the back of targeted campaigns, excellent customer service, and mobile network rollout. Looking at Tunisia, the operation delivered another period of strong performance driven by the mobile and fixed segments. Revenue grew a healthy 7% in local currency, driven by strong execution in mobile, quality customer acquisition, and enhanced customer value management. The fixed segment contributes significantly to overall revenue, supported by strong demand for high-speed broadband through fiber and fixed wireless access. This revenue uplift and enhanced operational efficiency led to double-digit EBITDA growth of 11% in local currency. EBITDA margin was up 1 percentage point to 43%. The customer base grew by 5% to 7.4 million. In Maldives, profitability was sustained despite ongoing competitive pressure. Disciplined cost control remains a core focus, which is delivering a positive result.

Revenue was flat, remaining resilient despite the intensified competition in the mobile segment. EBITDA increased by 4%, while EBITDA margin was up by 2 percentage points, delivering a strong margin of 56%. The customer base grew by 6%, reaching over 421,000. Moving to Palestine, the operation continues to lead in customer experience, providing much-needed connectivity to its customers. Despite the ongoing challenges, revenue decreased by 5% year on year and EBITDA was down by 4% on a reported basis. EBITDA margin was steady at 39%, reflecting cost control and operational resilience amid challenging conditions. The operation continues to maintain its solid market presence with 1.5 million customers. Finally, our joint venture IOH published their results for the first nine months of 2025. While revenue was down by 2% and EBITDA decreased by 3%, the operation delivered an improved performance quarter on quarter. This concludes the operational review. Back to Luelle.

Thank you.

Luelle Pillay, Head of Investor Relations, Ooredoo Group: Thank you very much, Aziz and Abdulla. Before we head into the Q&A session, you’ll see the Capital Markets Day agenda and our speakers for the day on your screens. Please register to join us on the 3rd of November at 3:00 P.M. Doha time. Now let’s get into the Q&A segment of today’s call. Here’s how you can participate. Raise your virtual hand and I’ll unmute your line when it’s your turn. Alternatively, type your questions in the Q&A box. For those joining via phone line, please press Star nine to ask a question. For Q&A, I’m joined by the Senior Leadership Team including Aziz and Abdulla. We have Eyas Assaf, our Deputy CFO. Let’s open up the floor. We have a couple of hands raised. Our first question comes from Tando Skosana from UBS. Please go ahead, Tando.

Hi, morning everyone and congratulations on the Q3 results. Let me start off with maybe three questions, please. The first one is just on your 2025 guidance. I mean, if I look at where you’re tracking now in the first nine months, it seems like you’re at the top end of your guidance both on revenue and EBITDA. I just wondered what are you guys expecting in Q4 that could bring that to the lower end of your guidance? Just to add on to that question, in the nine months ex Myanmar exit you grew 5%. What can we expect now in 2026? Do you think it’s tougher comps as we go into that year? The second question is just on dividend payout ratio. Again, congratulations on this one.

I was just wondering because I know you are a very conservative management team and also you take pride in the progressive dividend payout ratio which is at 60%. I just wondered why the payout ratio did not start with a 60 rather than a 50%. The last one is just Iraq, the growth there is just a little bit lower than what your peers are doing right now. I just wondered what you’re seeing in the market and whether there’s any initiatives to drive further growth in that market. Thank you.

Thank you. I counted four questions, not three.

Yeah.

What was the first one?

The guidance.

The guidance were at the top range of our guidance. We are, as you mentioned, usually very conservative in our planning, in our discipline, but also in our guidance. We operate in certain markets which have an inherent level of volatility. It’s always good to have a bit of cushion and room under our feet. If we continue on that trajectory, we will be at the top end, if not higher, of our guidance. It won’t be the first year that we beat our guidance. Actually, be probably the fourth or fifth in a row that we beat our guidance.

Second question, the nine months is 5% growth. What you expecting in 2026 excluding Myanmar, 5% growth in revenue and EBITDA. What you expecting?

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Group CEO, Ooredoo Group: Yes, 2026.

Look, we have a Capital Markets Day coming up. Invite you, Tando, to join. Right now we haven’t issued any official guidance for 2026. We are at the heart of the planning and budgeting season for 2026. We of course have our management insight, still needs to be ratified by the board. Unfortunately, I can’t comment on that one.

Luelle Pillay, Head of Investor Relations, Ooredoo Group: Thank you. The dividend is 60%.

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Group CEO, Ooredoo Group: You guys are never happy.

First is why aren’t you paying the top of the range? Now is then was why don’t you increase the range? The day we increase the range, you’re saying you didn’t increase it enough. Look, we’ve increased our dividend by 160% over the last three to four years. We’ve been at the top of the range. It was only normal and commensurate that we increased the guidance. It is a prerogative of the Board, 50% to 70%. We are also keeping a very healthy balance sheet and some dry powder for accelerated, whether it’s organic or inorganic. You’ve seen this this year. We’ve increased our CapEx this year compared to the previous year as we kept our telco CapEx standard at around 14% to 15% capacity to sales ratio. We are investing quite significantly on the data center fiber co assets, so we’re keeping room for that as well.

Luelle Pillay, Head of Investor Relations, Ooredoo Group: The last one was on your app. Your growth compared to the peer-to-peer seems relatively lower.

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Group CEO, Ooredoo Group: No? In terms of.

It depends how you measure the growth. In terms of customer base, we might have slightly lower growth. We’ve always been number two when you look at us on customer base. That being said, we’ve been number one in terms of revenue, market share, and more importantly what matters to us is EBITDA and EBITDA market share and EBITDA margin. We’re really focused on capturing the healthy revenue in the market and not to go in what we call internally, I think more importantly across the industry, the washing machine.

Luelle Pillay, Head of Investor Relations, Ooredoo Group: Great, thank you. Our next question is from Nishit Lakoti. Please go ahead. Nishit, I see you typed a few. I’m not sure if we’re going to cover these as well. Nishit. Okay, I’ll ask the questions for Nishit because I think he typed other income spiked in the third quarter. There’s some miscellaneous items there. Yes. Would you like to take that one?

Yeah. This is mainly coming from a legal case last year in Qatar. It was provisioned at almost QAR 91 million. Fortunately, we win it Q3 this year. Therefore, we reverse it. The main difference is between negative 91, positive 91. The difference is 182. I think this is the main reason for the difference between last year and this year.

Thank you.

Yes. The second question from Nishit is gross margin has been very strong, one of the strongest in four years post Covid. Is this sustainable and did it have any one offs?

No. Look, we’ve been working diligently in enhancing our profitability, and that goes from driving, as I previously said, healthy revenues but also core efficiencies. We had a guided statement to reach to the mid-40s and exceed the mid-40s in terms of EBITDA margin in the medium run. We did that statement two years ago. I think at the time we were around 41%, 42% EBITDA margin. We’re inching closer. We’re at 44% right now, and we won’t lift our foot off the throttle.

That’s great, I see. Our next question is from Madison from HSBC. Please go ahead, Maddie.

Yes, hi. Can you hear me okay?

Yes, we can. Go ahead, Maddie.

Great, thanks. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. Congrats on a great set of results as well as the new policy. Very pleased to see that the questions are starting with the dividend again, given that policy now allows you to go up to 70%. Historically, we have seen that you have actually touched the high end of the range quite often. Is that how we should think about it? That unless there is something extraordinary, you would strive to pay at the upper end of the range? That’s the first question. Second question is on your tower deal. Any update there? What timeline should we expect for closing? What is it that is holding it up so far? Is there any final equalization payment which we can think of because we hear different numbers from different parties? Just trying to square that.

On the Omani performance, it has been one of the weaker links, I would say, in the group’s recovery. What action is being taken and how long before we should expect any stabilization there? Finally, any update on the fourth operator in Iraq and the 5G? Is there any change there in terms of that? We haven’t heard of any launch or anything. What’s the update there? Thank you.

First of all, you’re usually the first to ask the question. We have Tando, who’s just joined as UBS. You be careful. Competition is coming. He beat you to the punch this time. I appreciate, you know, you’re consistent on your dividend questions and I’ll be consistent with my answers. The dividend is a prerogative of the Board, so I can’t make any statement on that fact. We just changed the range. That’s an indication. To this I can’t expand more. That’s normal standard compliance policies. Towers. Look, we’re waiting one regulatory approval in Qatar. We’ve been recently given verbal assurance that everything is okay. It’s a long and tedious process. No exception in Qatar. We hoped we could short circuit it. We’ve looked at all the previous transactions, which was IHS in Kuwait, which was the first Tawal in Saudi, Helios, and all that all took around two years.

We thought we could, given the precedence in other markets, shortcut that timeline. Apparently we can’t. We need to set a precedent here. Long story short, we got verbal assurance. You ask me, as long as I don’t see it in writing, I can’t act on it. When it comes to the equalization payments, we have the formulas within the deal. The big issue, which is not an issue but it’s actually positive for the towerco, is we’ve been growing and growing very fast. In certain markets, Zain, you know, we both operate in Iraq. I think at the time of the deal we had announced jointly between Iraq, between Zain and us, something like 13,000 towers. Today, ourselves only, we’re close to 9,000 to 10,000 towers, and Zain has grown at the same speed as us.

Yes, it will be more mathematical application on who has rolled out where and at what speed. This is what is going to affect the equalization payment, but it will be a positively accretive transaction once fully closed in all the markets. This won’t change the quantum. You know, are we talking about, I’ve heard numbers between $300 million to $700 million, which was our initial statement. I think we’ll be closer to the $500 million to $700 million range, but I’m just waiting for that final approval in writing.

Oman’s performance recovery actions.

Performance, we had a change in management, so Uma, who’s taken over Oman, great dynamism in the team. We’ve also, what you haven’t probably noticed, it’s been a very hard market. The reality of Oman is very simple. You have a very small country, 6 million population based circa. You have now three real operators. You have an additional three virtual operators. It’s highly congested in the world where, you know, in Indonesia we started the consolidation going from five operators to four. Now it’s going from four to three with the smartphone Axiata merger. Malaysia has consolidated, Thailand has consolidated, Spain has consolidated. The UK is consolidating to reduce the number of operators in countries where we’re talking about 60 to 80 million inhabitants all the way to 300 million inhabitants. Oman has decided to increase the number of operators.

This can only dilute the market share under our pool of every single operator. The good news is, usually within a three-year run, you see a stabilization of the third on trend anywhere between 10% to 15%. We’re sort of seeing them at a 12% now, quarter-over-quarter revenue market share. I think the erosion has gone, at least we’re hitting a stabilization, and we’re working on, with the new management team, a number of initiatives to try to push more efficiency and to regain value in the market. Fourth operator in Iraq, the less news we haven’t heard much, and you guys, the less news we hear, the happier we are. I know there was some political contestation regarding the issuance of the license. We’re, of course, contesting it. Zain is contesting it.

We’re working jointly on that as well, given that the exclusivity for 5G is a violation of our existing license and of any GSMA or ITU rules. We’re fighting against it as anyone would. The less news we hear, the happier we are. That being said, we’re preparing our commercial strategy, our network strategy, our distribution strategy to be ready as soon as they are.

Thank you. We have a typed question from Rowan Shekar. What percentage of capex is telecom and non-telecom?

I think I’ll touch on that. Our run rate capex in terms of telecom has been stable between 14% to 16% capex to sales ratio. We’re trying to keep it at this. This year what you’ve seen is an increase in capex. In real numbers we’re talking about anywhere between QAR 3 billion to QAR 3.5 billion every year given in telco core capex. This year we’re around QAR 4.5 billion. We have a guidance of QAR 4.5 billion to QAR 5 billion and that is non-telco. That is mainly data centers and subsea cables and to a lesser extent fintech. The capex on fintech is quite small.

Okay, give it a minute. We don’t have any other questions. Okay, there you go.

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Group CEO, Ooredoo Group: Maddie, sorry, is it a dividend question or not?

I can go on on that one, but I don’t think I’ll get an answer, so I’ll move on. Just checking on the data. If I remember correctly, your previous plan was to spend around $1 billion to $1.5 billion, but I think in the latest release you have talked about $1 billion. Is there a reduction we are seeing here?

No, no, there’s no reduction. We’ve already spent some money and we have some commitments which are ongoing and discussions. We know we’ll spend that and probably sooner than later. When I’m looking at the current pipeline we have under our eyes, none of it, when it’s firm signed up commitments and deployment, of course it will be announced. I’m pretty sure we’ll exceed our guidance in terms of Syntis spend but also in terms of capacity and revenue increase. Our announcement is $1 billion and also.

Okay, just a follow up on your comment on Indonesia. On the market share trends in Indonesia, with the consolidation of the other two operators, do you think you have any risk of, let’s say, change in the market share trends there? Can they gain market share at all, or put it another way, is there a risk for you to lose market share because of this?

The key thing, and I hope and advise you if you don’t, is to also join Vikram’s investor call and his team on IOH, which will give you much more depth. The biggest issue in Indonesia, which started around Q3 last year, was a price war not done by XL, Smartfren, nor By.U, but more triggered by the incumbent because there was too much loss of market share towards us in general, and especially not so much in revenue, but in EBITDA market share. I think we’re outperforming significantly. What we’re starting to see is stabilization of that price war. We’re starting to try and push ARPUs up. Normally, rationalization in the market in terms of the number of players, with a strong number one, a strong number two, and a strong number three, creates discipline in terms of value creation for the market.

We’re hopeful that this consolidation and this merger will drive to further value not just for us, but for all three players, as we saw in the first three years of our merger.

Thanks. Just to check, is Vikram presenting for the Capital Markets Day or is he not part of the Capital Markets Day?

Luelle Pillay, Head of Investor Relations, Ooredoo Group: No, Vikram Sinha’s not presenting at the Capital Markets Day this year.

Okay. All right, thanks. Thank you very much.

Thanks. Our next question is from Tando. Please go ahead. Tando.

Hi. Thank you. I just wanted to follow up. It’s probably two quick questions. In Kuwait, if you could just talk about margins in Q3, I appreciate probably seasonality and also handset sales affecting that. If we think about Q4, can we expect that improvement or should we continue expecting that sort of below 30% margin? In Qatar, if you could just share some thoughts on the competitive environment, particularly in the prepaid segment. Thank you.

Okay, so Kuwait, you nailed it on the head. Q3 coincides with the launch of the iPhone. So a lot of device sales, as you know, device is for us more an enabler than a margin business. We have low margin. That’s the main impact in Q3 in terms of margin, and the benefit provision 3.6. We don’t expect to see it in Q4. That’s number one. Look, in Qatar, actually we’re very happy with the performance of Ooredoo. What you are seeing, and if you delayer our market share, our core jewel is the postpaid market and especially the premium core postpaid market. We’re actually gaining market share on that. This is really the cash engine for Ooredoo. On the prepaid market, what we see is some customer gains from Vodafone, and that’s been their core market.

At the same time, we’re not seeing any dilution on our profitability in that segment. My guess is they’re probably getting the lower end at higher cost of our acquisitions, cost of acquisitions in terms of customers. We’re very focused on the very high end premium segment. This is our core mantra in Ooredoo. By the way, most of our markets, Iraq is the same, go after premium. We’re happy that the only slight challenges we have, but it is normal because it’s impossible and it’s too expensive to defend, is our position on the fixed business where we had 90% market share in Qatar and now we’re closer, two, three years down the line, we’re closer to 80%, which is more stabilized.

Okay, thank you. We have a typed question from Arun. Is there any major challenge you face in the expansion of your data center capacity in Qatar? We’re hearing expansions in gigawatts from UAE and K.C.

Yeah, a couple of things. Look, we’ve done the Microsoft expansion this summer. Very small because it’s an expansion of an existing facility. We are also bringing online another expansion of an existing facility. Today what you’re seeing in the UAE and KSA are very major government-sponsored projects. We know that there are similar initiatives in Qatar. We will definitely be part of them. Until these projects are fully announced and committed, we can’t announce them. What we are very focused on is growth through the hyperscalers, and what we’re seeing is continued growth in every market. We’ve increased our installed capacity by close to more than 25% in Qatar just in the last six months. Hopefully, by this time next year you’ll see significant expansion.

Okay, thank you. I don’t see any further questions. That wraps up our Q and A for today. Our full year results will be available and announced in February 2023. If you have any further questions after the call, please feel free to reach out to me directly. Thank you for your time and attention, and we look forward to engaging with you at our Virtual Capital Markets Day on Monday. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, guys.

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