ETIHAD Etisalat (Mobily) announced its Q4 and annual results for the year 2017. Q4 results witnessed growth in revenues for the first time in two years to reach SR2,826 million compared to the previous quarter at SR2,806 million. While full year 2017 witnessed a decrease in revenues to reach SR11,531 billion compared to SR 12,569 billion in 2016, due to the general economic changes and the various regulatory changes in the telecommunications sector.

Throughout 2017, Mobily enhanced its Operational Cash Flow (EBITDA-CAPEX), whereas it amounted to SR1,378 million in FY 2017, compared to SR857 million in FY 2016, with an increase of 61% despite the decrease in revenues and net losses.

Mobily also has succeeded in increasing its operational efficiency by reducing various expenses and achieving savings as a result of the renegotiation of some contracts, which enabled it to slightly increase its EBITDA from 903 million riyals in Q3 2017 to SR911 million in Q4 2017, while maintaining a stable level of EBITDA%, slightly decreasing from 32.1% in 2017 compared to 32.4% in 2016. Net results of 2017 showed losses at SR708.9 million in compared with losses of SR 213.6 million for the same period last year, mainly due to the decrease in sales by SR1.2 billion, as a result of the pressure from the general economic changes and the various regulatory changes in the telecommunications sector.

As part of its efforts to maintain a stable financing structure, Mobily has been able to reduce its debt to creditors by SR1,305 million, which has significantly improved the company's financial position compared to the previous years.

Moreover, the company, as part of its strategic plan RISE, has initiated a project to modernize its network and IT infrastructure with international companies, which will have a significant positive impact on the customer experience, and the ability of the network to accommodate new customers, and contain the increase in Data consumption from the company's customers. — SG