Econet increase its earnings by 27 percent

Zimbabwe's largest mobile phone operator Econet Wireless recorded a 27 percent rise in full-year earnings after spending $270 million to expand its voice and data services.

Earnings per share stood at $0.84 in the year to end-February, up from $0.66 the previous year, the company said in a statement.

The company's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 35 percent to $242.7 million.

Econet's  revenues jumped 36 percent to about US$500 million over the 12 months to February 2011 as the country's largest telecoms service provider grew subscriber numbers to more than 5.5 million.

In a statement accompanying its financial results for the year, Econet said revenues increased 36 percent to US$493.5 million from US$362.8 million, while post tax profit rose to US$140.9 million from US$113.2 million last year.

Total assets increased by US$243.9 million (62 percent) to US$636.6 million.

The company also invested US$270 million in network infrastructure over the past year, bringing total investment in the previous two years to over US$430 million.

Econet competes with Orascom's Zimbabwe unit Telecel and state-owned NetOne, which said in February it was in talks to sell a 49 percent stake to MTN, Africa's largest mobile phone firm, and other African operators.

Companies in Zimbabwe have been buoyed by the introduction of multi-currencies in 2009, following the formation of a unity government between President Robert Mugabe and his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Currencies such as the U.S. dollar and South African rand replaced the Zimbabwe dollar, which had been made almost worthless by hyper-inflation.

The company's subscribers increased to 5.5 million by February this year, up from 4 million during the same period last year.