Morocco's Meditel 2007 profit more than doubles

Morocco's second-biggest telecoms company Meditel said its net income increased more than two times, last year as its client base grew 29 percent, in spite of tough competition from leading player Maroc Telecom.

Meditel's gross sales grew 13 percent to 6.8 billion dirhams ($912 million) while net profit leaped 132 percent on a comparable basis to 541 million dirhams, said the company, a 50-50 joint venture between Spain's Telefonica and Portugal Telecom PTEL.LS.

Meditel revenues have soared during the past two years during heavy network investments have paid off and its subscriber base expands.

The operator said the latest results were boosted by strong demand for pre-paid services. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 12 percent and represented 46 percent of net sales, up from 44 percent in 2006.

"These results position Meditel as one of the best-performing subsidiaries of the Telefonica and Portugal Telecom groups," Meditel said in the statement emailed on Thursday, which was dated March 4.

Maroc Telecom said last month that the use of mobile phones in the north African country grew by 30 percent in 2007, despite a severe drought that low incomes, and airtime prices near 25 per cent.