Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Ooredoo Group's financial results call for the first quarter of 2026. My name is Ali Serdar, Head of Treasury and Investor Relations for the Group. Thank you for joining us today. I'm joined by our Group CEO, Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, who will start with our quarterly highlights, strategic progress, and group results. After that, our Group CFO, Abdulla Al-Zaman, will walk you through the performance of our operations. We will keep the presentation short, so we can leave enough time for your questions. You can submit your questions at any time using the Q&A function. The presentation is available on our website and on this platform. Please note that this session is being recorded and transcribed. Finally, please refer to the disclaimer on slide two. With that, I will now hand over to Aziz.
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our Q1 result call. Let me start with a brief overview of the quarter before turning to the regional context, our strategic progress, and group results in detail. The first quarter marked a strong start to 2026 for Ooredoo. We delivered solid growth in revenue, EBITDA, and net profit, supported by disciplined execution across the portfolio. What stands out is the quality of the performance. Performance was broad-based, with particularly strong contribution from Algeria and Tunisia alongside resilient trends in Qatar, Iraq, and Kuwait. Profitability also improved, with EBITDA margin increasing to 43.8%, reflecting an operating leverage and our continued focus on efficiencies. This performance was underpinned by the strength of our diversified footprint, solid demand for connectivity, and sustained financial discipline.
We also continued to make progress on key strategic priority, including the launch of Ooredoo Fibre Networks, further progress at Syntys following the Q Data acquisition, and continued preparation for the Qatar Tower Co. First close in the first half of 2026. As a result, we entered the year with a good operating momentum, a healthy balance sheet, and a business that has proven robust. Since late February, developments in the region have increased uncertainty across parts of our footprint. While this has made the operating environment more challenging, telecom demand has remained resilient, and we have seen no material operational disruption across the group. Network and service availability were maintained throughout the period, and core domestic demand continued to hold up well, reflecting the essential nature of the connectivity services. Our focus has been on service continuity, operational resilience, and disciplined execution.
This has included targeted commercial actions, active cost control, and flexibility in CapEx phasing, allowing discretionary investment to be adjusted where needed. Against this backdrop, our full year guidance remains unchanged. This reflects performance to- date and the resilience of our business, while assumptions remain under close review as visibility evolves. On to our strategic progress across the portfolio, starting with our dedicated data center platform, Syntys. Syntys made good progress in the quarter through the acquisition of Q Data facilities in Qatar. This increased installed capacity and further reinforced the platform's growth trajectory. The acquisition is immediately earnings accretive and further transcends Syntys position as a carrier-neutral digital infrastructure supporting hyperscalers, cloud, and AI workloads. In Q1, Syntys generated QAR 51 million in revenue and QAR 22 million in EBITDA, with hyperscalers accounting for 76% of revenue in Qatar.
Looking ahead, we remain focused on scaling capacity in a measured way, aligned with customer demand and value creation. Turning to Fintech. Ooredoo Fintech continued to scale in Q1 with continued momentum in mobile-led financial services across the footprint. The business remains anchored by Qatar, our most established market, where the platform continues to hold a firm position in international remittances. In Q1, Fintech generated QAR 25 million in revenue, with transaction volumes continuing to grow, driven primarily by the remittance activity. Outside Qatar, newer markets remain in the investment and build-out phase. Expansion is being pursued selectively with a clear focus on regulatory readiness and execution discipline. Overall, Fintech remains a long-term growth opportunity for the group, with near-term priority on scaling responsibly while protecting returns. Turning to the group's performance. We delivered a solid start to the year despite a more uncertain regional backdrop.
On a year-on-year basis, revenue increased by 6%, supported by strong performance in Algeria and Tunisia, alongside steady contribution from other core markets. EBITDA grew by 6.9% with margin increasing just under 44%. Net profit increased by 4.7% to QAR 1 billion. Turning to revenue, the group delivered solid revenue growth of 6% year-on-year to QAR 6.2 billion, mainly driven by strong performance across the portfolio. High-growth markets, particularly Algeria, Tunisia, and Iraq, continued to demonstrate robust momentum supported by customer growth and sustained network investment, with additional tailwinds from favorable FX movement in Tunisia, Algeria, and Palestine. Meanwhile, Qatar and Kuwait delivered resilient performance despite mature markets dynamics, while Oman and Maldives remain broadly stable within their respective market environments. Now turning to EBITDA.
EBITDA reached QAR 2.7 billion for the first quarter, reflecting a 6.9% year-on-year increase. EBITDA margin improved by 0.4 percentage points to 43.8%, supported by top-line growth, operating leverage, and cost discipline across the Group. EBITDA expansion was driven by improved performance across key markets, particularly Algeria, Tunisia, Kuwait, and Oman. Turning to net profit. Reported net profit attributable to Ooredoo shareholders increased by 4.7% to QAR 1 billion, reflecting solid operational performance across the Group. Now looking at CapEx. We deployed over QAR 600 million of CapEx in the quarter, up 13% year-on-year, reflecting targeted investment in network and capacity upgrade across the footprint, led by markets including Algeria, Iraq, and Tunisia, alongside continued investment in Syntys. We continue to manage CapEx with discipline, retaining flexibility in the phasing of discretionary investments.
Moving to free cash flows. It increased to QAR 2.1 billion, supported by improved operational performance and disciplined financial management. The increase was primarily driven by a stronger EBITDA, which translated into cash generations. Customers. Our consolidated customer base increased by just over 3% year-on-year to nearly 54 million customers. Growth was driven mainly by strong net addition in Algeria and Iraq and continuing momentum in Tunisia. This was partially offset by customer base optimization in Oman. Including IOH, total customers stood at just over 147 million. A quick look at the balance sheet. Our balance sheet remains strong, with net debt to EBITDA standing at 0.6 times, well below our board guidance. Liquidity remains solid, supported by total cash of $3.5 billion and undrawn committed facilities of $1.6 billion equivalent.
Our debt profile remains balanced, with long maturities and minimal interest rate risk. FX-denominated debt is insignificant outside Qatar. We continue to maintain investment grade rating from both S&P and Moody's. Now I leave it to Abdulla to take you through the operational review. Thank you.
Thank you, Aziz. Good afternoon, everyone. I will take you through our OpCo year-on-year operational and financial performance for the first quarter. Starting with our home market, Qatar. Qatar delivered resilient top-line growth underpinned by disciplined execution. Revenue increased by over 3%, driven by solid service revenue performance, supported by 4.5% growth on the mobile segment. EBITDA increased by around 1%, while EBITDA margin stood healthy at close to 52%, declining 1 percentage point due to change in revenue mix. Customer base remain at 3 million, reflecting stable market dynamic. Moving to Kuwait, the operation delivered solid performance in a mature market. Revenue increased just over 3% in local currency terms, reflecting higher data revenue. EBITDA increased by 8%, supported by improved gross margin from service revenue. EBITDA margin expanded by over 1 percentage point to above 35%, reflecting operation leverages.
Customer base remained stable at nearly 3 million customer. On Oman, where performance continued to reflect ongoing market dynamics. Revenue was broadly flat as a higher device revenue offset softness in service revenues. EBITDA increased by above 7% in the local currency, supported by cost efficiency measures. EBITDA margin improved more than 3 percentage point to over 47%, reflecting the benefits of restructuring and more efficiency cost base. Customer base decreased 4% to around 3 million, reflecting portfolio optimization and focus on customer quality. Turning to Iraq, one of our key growth market. Asiacell continued to deliver a solid growth supported by customer additions and rising data usage. Revenue increased by around 4% in local currency, driven by a strong data and a wholesale performance. EBITDA increased by 3%, benefiting from top line growth.
EBITDA margin stood at nearly 45%, slightly down compared to last year, reflecting higher operational cost. Customer base grew 2% to over 20 million, supported by ongoing demands. Moving to Algeria, one of our Group top performance markets. Algeria sustained strong momentum, delivering double-digit growth for another quarter. Revenue increased almost 13% in a local currency driven by mobile data growth. EBITDA grew around 15%, while EBITDA margin improved by almost 1 percentage point to above 43%, reflecting operating leverage. Customer base expanded by more than 7% to reach 15.6 million, supported by sustained net addition. Next, Tunisia. Performance accelerated across both mobile and fixed segments. Revenue increased more than 9% in local currency, driven by strong demand for higher speed fiber and sound mobile momentum.
EBITDA increased by 17%. EBITDA margin expanded by roughly three percentage points to above 41%, reflecting strong operational leverage. Customer base grew 5% to reach over 7 million customers. Turning to Maldives. The business continued to deliver a resilient performance. Revenue remained broadly flat, supported by resilient performance and core service, which was offset by lower wholesale revenue. EBITDA increased by 4%, supported by cost optimization and operational efficiency. EBITDA margin expanded around 2 percentage points to nearly 57%, maintaining one of the highest margins on the group. Customer base increased by 1% to over 400,000, driven by growth in the fiber and fixed wireless segments. Moving to Palestine, where operations continue with a strong discipline despite a challenging environment. Revenue increased close to 11%, supported by stabilized market conditions and favorable currency movement.
EBITDA increased broadly by 14%, with EBITDA margin expanded by 1 percentage point to just under 39%. Customer base stood at 1.5 million, reflecting ongoing effort to enhance base quality. Turning to IOH, our joint venture which deliver a positive start to the year. Revenue increased around 12%, while EBITDA grew by over 13%. EBITDA margin improved by around 1 percentage point to 48%, reflecting disciplined cost management. Customer base declined by 2%, around 94 million, driven by SIM consolidation in the market. This concludes with the operational review. Back to Ali. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Aziz and Abdulla. We will now move to the Q&A session. If you'd like to participate, please raise your virtual hand, and I will unmute your line when it's your turn. You can also type your question in the Q&A box. If you have joined by phone, just press star and nine. For the Q&A, I'm joined by Aziz and Abdulla, as well as some members of our senior leadership team. Let me open the floor now. Our first question comes from Thando from UBS. Thando, please go ahead.
Great. Great, thank you for taking my questions, congratulations on the results. I do have a lot of questions, but I'll keep it to two and go back in line. The first one is just, I wonder if you could share more details on the impact of the current situation across the region. If maybe you can compare January to February growth to March growth, just to give a sense and whether you're seeing some improvement, at least in the month of April. If you can just comment, you know, between your B2B, B2G, and B2C segments, please. Just my second question, Kuwait, it delivered probably your highest EBITDA margin in Q1 in a long time. I just wanted to get a better understanding of how sustainable that 35% margin is, and did you see a lower device sales, in this quarter? Thank you.
I'll take the first question. I'll defer the second question to Abdulla. Like, in terms of impact, I think the results speak for themselves. We haven't seen any major impact, especially on the daily operation since the beginning of the events. Actually, what we did see is probably in the first 10 days to two weeks of the events in a number of markets which were directly impacted Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar, we saw actually increased usage in terms of data and phone, which is normal, and now it's stabilized to normal operation. We don't see any dramatic drop or anything going forward. We're proceeding the same level of performance between March and April. Some areas are slightly impacted, but it's more in the medium term. As you know, certain projects, in terms of deployment, especially in CapEx, have been put on hold or rephased. Typical example, FIG Cable.
We are still able to do some activity within the Gulf, but other activities due to the blockade, for instance, the major ship which is there, we had to exit it from the Gulf and it's now outside of the waters and can't operate. We are still proceeding with a number of activities, production of the cable, some site surveys, et cetera. That CapEx will be delayed. As the CapEx is delayed, probably going forward, that's medium term, we are talking about more than 18-24 months down the line. Some of the revenue will be impacted just because of the delay. Flip side is we're seeing even more interest on these types of projects from hyperscalers and other operators in the region for redundancy purposes. I think these are the general types of impact.
On the enterprise side, for the time being, we haven't seen much impact or cancellation of projects or et cetera. We actually just inked on the Syntys side a new 4.4M W facility at the end of last week with a major hyperscaler, and that is a build in Qatar. It shows there's still dynamism. As for the time being, we're not seeing any direct major impact to our activity. A bit of rephasing of CapEx, but we're being very opportunistic. If we're seeing too much CapEx will be postponed, we're bringing forward other CapEx elements in other geographies which are not impacted. In terms of rollout, and if you take the major rollout in Q1 in terms of network, that was Iraq. As of today, it's going as foreseen.
Us and the vendors have quite a lot of inventory on the ground. This is not delayed. Of course, if these blockades and logistic routes remain closed for a prolonged amount of time, we then might start to see lower inventories, but it's not the case as of today. To Abdulla for the EBITDA margin.
The way I understand your question is you emphasize on the EBITDA margin, which is 35%. Is it sustainable or not sustainable? I just want to bring to your kind attention that we had less sales of devices during quarter one of 2026 in Kuwait, and this has contributed, I would say, positively in increasing the EBITDA margin to 35. Is it sustainable? I would say yes, it's sustainable as long as maybe we don't continue selling devices more than what it is today.
Okay. Thank you, Aziz and Abdulla. Thank you, Thando, for the question. The next question comes from Madhvendra Singh from HSBC. Maddy, please go ahead.
Yes. Hi. Thanks a lot for taking my question and congrats on a strong set of numbers. I have a few follow-ups on, you know, operational performances. In Iraq, it seems like revenue growth is a bit soft, especially if I compare with the main competitors there. Wondering, you know, what is the main reason or driver behind this gap between you and the competitor? Is it likely to be, you know, getting better or is this the run rate we should be expecting in the medium term? The second question is on the tower deal. If you could share any update on the closing timeline and what is the latest update on any potential payout you might get or receive from Zain on closing?
That's the second question. The third and the final one should be quite quick on the data center outlook. Given the, you know, situation in the region, do you see that could impact the potential demand from hyperscalers in the medium to long run? I'm sure that the current projects will go ahead as they are. Any thoughts on the long-term, you know, outlook for the sector given the situation? Thank you.
I'll start from the end of your question because I thought I answered it just before. Look, on data centers, we're still seeing a very strong demand. As I mentioned, we just signed a new build for hyperscaler of 4.4 MW. We have a quite a strong funnel and pipeline. We're hoping to make new announcements in the coming months as we go forward. In terms of TowerCo, the asset transfer in Qatar has been finalized. We're finalizing now the share transfer because it's a 2-step process in Qatar because of regulation. We're still looking to close as of Q2 of this year doing the first close. Going to Iraq.
To what tower closing this, right?
Yeah.
Okay. Going to Iraq, I can take the first part. I would slightly disagree with you. We have mentioned earlier that Iraq double-digit growth, that it will not be there in quarter one of 2026 or toward 2026, but we still have a very solid growth in Iraq. The comparison that you are talking about, You're comparing our competitor to our competitor do consolidations, their account, while Iraq we are a solo company that we are competing against a competitor with a consolidation. I have next to me Fadi. Fadi was the previous CEO for Iraq. He can elaborate more on this point.
Just on this point, I think we need to be careful to compare like-for- like. The announced statements for our competitors in Iraq is basically consolidated statements which includes the ISP and recently the mobile wallet as well. While in Asiacell it's only the mobile business, so we just need to be mindful of that.
Yes.
Understood. Do you think I mean, are you also planning to have your own fintech and other comparable businesses then to bridge the gap there?
Look, if you go back to the presentation we did, I think it's the third slide. It's actually the Fintech rollout. We are live in Qatar and Maldives. We are live in Oman. Oman we launched last year. We're ramping up the launch. We're growing, I think if I remember well, close to 10% every month our customer base. In Iraq, we finalized the licensing process. We got the license. We're currently in a build phase targeting for a soft launch end of this year or very early next year. Depends on the sandboxing with the central bank, but internal build we're looking at end of this year soft launch. Tunisia, we actually soft launched already and looking for a full-blown launch within the months to come in Tunisia. Algeria, we just started the licensing process. In Kuwait we're still working on the licensing process or potential acquisitions.
And we have-
Understood.
The towers.
Yes.
Yeah, the tower closing I think we have mentioned it clearly that we will be targeting the quarter two of 2026. We'll start with Qatar first. First of all, we are focusing on closing of Qatar, then we go to the other markets.
Thank you, Abdulla. Thank you, Aziz. Thank you, Fadi. Maddy, any follow-up questions or you are done?
Yes. On the data center question, Aziz, I did hear your earlier answer. My question was more on the longer term outlook. I understand the current projects and, you know, whatever was the pipeline may still continue, but, you know, what do you think hasn't changed that hyperscalers may continue to, you know, come to the region? You know, security of data servers is still probably a big deal for them, right? We did see some of the infrastructure getting targeted during the conflict. That's the angle where I'm coming from. Yeah.
Look, I think it's a very slight different business model between us and some regional peers, and I would say hyperscaler activity in Qatar versus certain of our regional neighbors. The demand pipeline, which is still very strong, and I'd like to share it with you, is all predicated on local demand. Or from the government, from SMEs, from GREs, from large corporation. This is what is fueling the hyperscalers build in Qatar and in Oman and in Kuwait as a use. Our neighbors were more building on the model of we will build large facility for local demand, but also for e-export of training models, et cetera. I think this might have been impacted. Local demand is still extremely strong, and that chain needs to be fulfilled. We're not impacted.
Yeah, understood. That's a good answer. Thanks. Thank you.
Thank you, Maddy, for the questions. The next question comes from Bijoy J. Please go ahead.
Thank you, gentlemen, for the call. My name is Bijoy from QIC Asset Management. My question is on the current situation. How do you see the local competition, not just in Qatar but other geographies as well, given the current environment or other players discounting or trying to tap into the more sticky business like fixed line and enterprise through discounting? How do you see the trends in the coming quarters?
For the time being, I think the first quarter speaks for itself. It's a very strong quarter. One thing we don't do at Ooredoo, whether it's in Qatar, in Kuwait, in Oman, in any geography we operate is underestimate our competitors. Where we're very confident is our strategy. One of our key pillars is customer centricity, whether it's on the consumer or the enterprise side, and is always positioning Ooredoo as the premium provider on the consumer and also on the enterprise side, which is much more sticky. We've invested significantly in our networks and our assets. This is why, for instance, there were question on Iraq. On Iraq for many years, and still as today, in term of customer base, we're number 2. In terms of revenue market share, we're number 1 because we have the premium segment.
If you look at Qatar, our competitor is doing a great job, especially on the prepaid segment. On the very high ARPU sticky segment, we own the lion's share of that market. Same, in, for instance, Algeria. If you look at some of Algeria's KPI, I think we're growing at 18% for the first quarter. We just launched 5G. We have a disproportionate share of the 5G market versus our competitors in that market. I think it's above 70% of the 5G market share is to Ooredoo Algeria. This has consistently been our strategy, and it's proved to be right.
When you translate that for enterprise, a lot of the large enterprises which we service, and government institution, which is also our big area of focus, of course, SMEs prioritize resiliency, continuity of service, which are vital for them versus tiny price sensitivity. I think our commercial strategy has always been very sound and strong.
Understood. You don't see any local competition just, you know, taking advantage of the current situation?
No, look, there the local situation impacts all of us equally. I think it's more agility on the way we react in certain commercial offerings, et cetera. Again, right now, we're not seeing any increased competition because of the current situation.
Understood. Thank you.
By the way, last comment, and I salute my competitors across my footprints. I think we're all operating in a very disciplined and rational manner as well.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you, Bijoy, for your questions. The next question, I don't see further questions, but I would like to give some more time. You can raise your virtual hand or you can type your question in the Q&A box. Yes, I think we have one typed question. Comes from Nikhil Bhutani. Postpaid subscriber expansion in Algeria has been quite erratic with number of subscribers increasing over 2024 and then declining significantly in 2025. What is the reason for that? Could you throw some light on the pricing dynamics in the market? Algeria, postpaid subscriber expansion.
Being frank, I don't know the answer. I can come back to you. From what I understand, Algeria is a prepaid market, and our focus a lot on the prepaid market over there. I'm not sure about where he's getting that information about the subscriber of postpaid. I can always come back with an answer on that. In general, major rule of thumb, GCC markets are mostly postpaid markets.
Yes.
Outside GCC, so Iraq, Palestine, Tunisia, Algeria, and Indonesia, Maldives are mostly prepaid markets.
Yes. Okay. Thank you for the question. The next question comes from Zuhair. Sir, please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for the call. Just one quick question on Iraq. What is the impact you guys are seeing from the 20% tax that was introduced in March? If you can just share, you know, sort of what you've seen in the last two months and what the outlook for the rest of the year is based off that.
Well, unless mistaken, it's been announced, it hasn't been implemented yet. This doesn't just impact First, it impacts everyone equally. It doesn't just impact us, it impacts a number of industries. I think there's still quite a bit of debate over it.
Yes.
Okay. Clear.
Thank you, Zuhair. I think Madhy has a follow-up question. Madhy.
Yes. Hi, thanks Ali again. Just on Iraq, given the situation on the, you know, blockade and I was wondering, you know, what is the situation you are facing in Iraq currently? Have you faced any difficulties in procuring dollars? Is that something which is worrying you for the future that there might be some issues in getting cash out of the country? The reason I'm also asking that is from a dividend point of view, if there was any issue in getting cash upstream from Iraq, would that impact the dividend payment from the group side? If you could share some color there. Thanks.
As of today, we're not seeing any impact nor on FX nor on currency repatriation. Historically, we're not strangers to that situation. I think when this management team started a bit more than 5 years ago, we had repatriation issues, including in Iraq. We had, I think, over $1.2 billion of dividends which were still held in Iraq. Since then, we've completely repatriated them, and we've increased our repatriation efforts and mechanism, et cetera. If in any case or situation there is a currency issue or repatriation issue, you've seen the strength of our balance sheet at the group and our cash position. We're at 0.4x or 0.6x , depending on how you calculate it, net debt to EBITDA.
We have way sufficient and ample cash reserve to service our debt, pay our dividend, and even do some inorganic growth on the side.
Very clear. Thank you.
Next question. I think Thando has a follow-up question as well. Thando, please go ahead.
Great. Yes. I just wanted to follow up on Qatar, please. Just in terms of the post-paid ARPUs, they've been on a decline now for the last several quarters if you look on a year-on-year basis. I was just wondering what you guys are seeing there in terms of I don't know, 'cause you said competition seems pretty stable, but anything on pricing, discounts or demand that you're seeing in Qatar on the post-paid segment, please? Thank you.
In general, on our post-paid segment, the gap is very slowly narrowing. It's sort of a natural point. We were above 30% premium above our competitor. There's that natural extremely slow, and this is what we're trying to control as much as possible, convergence of us slightly eroding our ARPU and they're slightly increasing their ARPU. One of the key drivers in ARPU erosion in Qatar is not so much on the post-paid, is on the fixed line side, if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, that's true. That's true. Actually, we're seeing this quarter versus last quarter of, let's say quarter four of 2025, we see there is a growth also in terms of post-paid and sustainability in the ARPU.
Well, ARPU was marginally below, but in total, post-paid revenue, post-paid mobile revenue is up.
That's okay.
which is a healthy indicator.
Okay, gentlemen. Thank you for your question and answers. I'll turn to the typed questions. We have an anonymous attendee asking about the wholesale business in Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq. They were significantly up year-over-year. What's the reason? The post-paid dropped from KWD 15 to KWD 13 . I think this is Kuwait.
Wholesale in the region, again, our strategy of becoming a digital infrastructure player, especially, also on the connectivity part with the current situation, a number of players in the region, whether it's hyperscalers or other operators, has asked us for additional capacity for resiliency and support of their own markets. We're immediate beneficiary from that.
Yes. On the second part, I say, we have focused on doing a better or controlling the gross add in term of post-paid customer. This is slightly is impacting our customer. Again, on the post-paid part, we're seeing also an overall growth.
Okay. Thank you for the questions- and- nswers. Next question. I don't see further questions, but just would like to remind again that you can ask further questions either by raising your virtual hand or typing in the Q&A box. Waiting for- All right. I think, since there are no further questions, I would like to thank everyone for joining us today. Our next release will be our half year results expected at the end of July. If you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to contact the IR team. Thank you again, we look forward to speaking with you soon again. Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you.
Thank you.