Bahrain Telecommunications Co. (Batelco) on Wednesday, July 25, announced profits of $74.67 million in the first six months of 2001, up 2.9 percent from the same period of last year.
Expenses jumped almost 20 percent to $146.98 million from $122.88 million in the first six months of 2000, while gross turnover grew 14 percent to $218.25 million, it said in a statement.
To mark its 20th anniversary on July 2, the company offered $3.4 million worth of free phone calls to residential customers and paid out bonuses to employees.
Bahrain's government has a 39 percent stake in Batelco, with Britain's Cable and Wireless holding 20 percent and the remaining 41 percent publicly traded.
The Bahraini crown prince, Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, vowed in February that the government would break Batelco's monopoly of the telecommunications sector. ― (AFP, Manama)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
