Emerging markets group Orascom Telecom announced sound results for the nine months to 30 September 2010, with its figures flattered by a US$300 million one-off gain related to its new shareholder agreement with France Telecom, covering the Mobinil joint venture in Egypt. It also sold its Egyptian fixed ISP business to Mobinil. However, a weakened performance from its Algerian unit, Djezzy, caused some concern, against a backdrop of ongoing dispute with the Algerian government related to taxes, and the planned acquisition of Djezzy by the state. Khaled Bichara, Group CEO of Orascom, says that “Djezzy has displayed resilience and maintained relative stability, despite local governmental restrictions and actions, which have resulted in a toughening operational environment and which threaten network quality.” It made no further reference to the planned combination of Weather Investments, the parent company of Orascom Telecom, and VimpelCom to create the world’s fifth-largest operator group by subscribers.

For the nine months to 30 September 2010, the company reported a net income of US$950.99 million, up 130.1 percent compared with US$413.33 million in the prior-year period, on revenue of US$3.12 billion, up 1.6 percent from US$3.07 billion. Total subscriber numbers have now passed the 100 million mark, growing by 16 percent year-on-year to reach 103 million. The company trumpeted strong growth in “most” of its GSM operations, “with the exception of Algeria.” The company’s growth in Pakistan was impacted by the major floods which have hit the country, which will lead to a slowed GDP growth that will “inevitably have a significant effect on the operation’s growth in the country,” and part of the company’s infrastructure was also damaged. The high subscriber growth and “strong market activities” had a dilutive impact on ARPU for the group, with koryolink (North Korea), Tunisiana (Tunisia) and Mobinil (Egypt) particularly affected.