ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Egyptian mobile operator Mobinil, set to announce first-quarter results on Wednesday, expects quarterly revenue to be hurt by recent political unrest in the country, its chairman said.
Mobinil, which leads the Egyptian mobile market by subscriber numbers, also expected single-digit subscriber growth for the short term, Alex Shalaby told reporters on Wednesday.
"There will be an impact. Roaming services were hit hard due to what happened in Egypt earlier this year which largely affected tourism," Shalaby said.
In February, the company said it had lost around 80-100 million Egyptian pounds ($14-17 million) during violent protests that led to the toppling of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Mobinil has no plans to increase capital expenditure for 2011 as demand for services remained low, Shalaby said, adding the company has no plans to tap bond markets in the short term.
"It (capex) won't exceed that of last year because of reduced demand and we will continue to upgrade quality and 3G coverage," he said on the sidelines of a telecoms conference in Abu Dhabi.
Mobinil has a 40 percent market share in Egypt with a mobile subscriber base of over 30 million. Shalaby said he did not expect the company to increase market share but to hold on to its current market position. (Reporting by Stanley Carvalho, Editing by Dan Lalor)