Kuwait-based, regionally operating mobile network giant Zain, in its annual general assembly meeting, approved the board of directors’ recommendation on Sunday to hand out dividends at KD0.50 ($2.28) per share par value, representing 50 percent of the capital value.



The announcement was made for the financial year which ended on Dec. 31, 2012 and was “within (Zain’s) estimates and predictions amid the continued difficult challenges in this period as a result of the tough economic conditions and the global financial crisis,” said Zain Group Chairman Asaad Al-Banwan in a statement.



He said that these challenges were illustrated in the “negative foreign currency movements, which cost the group around $109 million.” In recent times, the telecommunications and IT industries have been witnessing a dramatic change, he said, which will restructure the smart phones, tablets and mobile network operator industries. The huge investments in IT will also push the numbers of mobile smart phones and tablets to two fold over their mobile and desktop predecessors in a year or two, he suggested.



On Zain’s operational performance, he said that net profits were $902 million, with $0.23 earnings per share. Total shareholders’ equity was $6.09 billion at a time when the subscriber base grew by 6 percent to around 42.7 million subscribers compared to 40.2 million in 2011.



Meanwhile, Zain Group CEO Scott Gegenheimer said that the telecommunications industry is currently going through a structural shift, whereby operators continue to develop their strategies, commercial operations and product offers to keep up with the developments resulting from these changes.



The quick spread of post-3G networks towards entire dependency on the IP (Internet Protocol) system - of network delivery - in addition to the vast spread of smart phones and tablets are things that herald huge growth in the use of travelling data services on a broad scale, or broadband, he added.



Telecommunications experts expect data services to achieve an accumulative annual growth of up to 92 percent in 2015 amid competition from unlicensed bodies, who are capable of moving towards a new infrastructure, launching services based on the IP system, like messaging, voice call or on-demand video conferencing.



Conventional telecommunication companies seek to improve their personal business interactions in order to incorporate strategic companies of unlicensed bodies to ensure that these two joint players in the same industry can work together to provide offers and complete services to the consumer, he said.



Cash dividends will be handed out to shareholders on April 15, the statement said. – SG