Vodafone Qatar targets higher value customers

14/06/2017 08:07 AST

Vodafone Qatar, after expanding its customer base to over 1.5 million, is now focusing on high-valued customers to further boost its revenues and profits.

This was announced by the Company's CEO at its Annual General Assembly which approved all the resolutions on the agenda of the meeting.

The AGM, held on Monday, was chaired by Vodafone Qatar's CEO Ian Gray and attended by Board Member Nasser Al Marri and Acting CFO Ramamoorthy Rajagopal. "Our customer base reached 1.5 million and we now have a 21.1 percent total revenue market share and 28.4 percent mobile revenue market share in Qatar. We are increasing our footprint amongst higher value customers together with a move away from low margin business," added Gray.

Within the high value postpaid customer base, the company saw year-on-year growth of 15 percent primarily attributed to the success of new and innovative products introduced to the market, such as, Vodafone Bill Manager. Bill Manager, show cases Vodafone Qatar's customer focus and drive for product innovation and was designed specifically to address customer bill shock as a source of dissatisfaction.

It automatically affords customers the benefits of the best local data or roaming rates when the customer exceeds their data bundle allocation and does so without customers having to activate the product in advance.

He further said that in the coming year, Vodafone Qatar will continue to build on its successes and develop further in fixed line activities, targeting opportunities in public and private investments in major real estate developments and infrastructure projects and will continue to deliver further innovative products and services and exceptional customer experience to our business customers in the country. "We believe the future is bright and remain confident in the potential of the Qatari telecommunications market. Vodafone Qatar is well positioned for future growth with the right strategic focus to take advantage of the strong market prospects," Gray said.

The shareholders approved the financial statements for the financial year ended at March 31, 2017 and it was noted that the Board of Directors' was not in a position to recommend payment of a dividend in respect of the relevant period. Addressing the shareholders, Gray said: "The Company's overall financial results provide clear evidence of a turnaround in the performance of the business. EBITDA increased significantly by 34 percent year-on-year to QR537m supported by gains in post-paid market share, a better mix of higher margin revenues, strong cost control and the success of new innovative products introduced to the market. Net profit excluding license amortisation reached QR134m representing an improvement of QR196m when compared against the previous financial year."

The Peninsula