RIYADH/KUWAIT: Zain Saudi Arabia (Zain KSA) announces record-high financial results for all key indicators for the full-year and fourth quarter ended 31 December, 2019 with the operator serving 7.6 million customers. For the full-year 2019, Zain KSA generated revenues of SAR 8.4 billion ($2.24 billion), a 11 percent Y-o-Y compared to SAR 7.5 billion for the full year of 2018, while EBITDA for the year increased by 27 percent Y-o-Y to reach SAR 3.82 billion ($1.02 billion), reflecting an EBITDA margin of 46 percent. Net income soared to reach SAR 485 million ($130 million), reflecting a 46 percent increase on the 2018 full-year net income of SAR 332 million. Zain KSA reported total capex investment of SAR 1.9 billion ($512 million) for full year 2019.

Commenting on the positive financial results, Zain Vice-Chairman and Group CEO, Bader Al-Kharafi, said, "Zain KSA's ever improving financial results are attributed to the team's diligent implementation of its digital growth strategy, combined with the close cooperation and support of the resources of Zain Group. Zain KSA's distinct accomplishments in 2019, include the commercial launch of the Kingdom's largest 5G network that enhance competitive capabilities; operational efficiency initiatives; and provision of a great customer mobile experience that is instrumental in growing its enterprise and individual customer base."

Al-Kharafi added, "The company is proud of its position as a major contributor to Saudi Arabia's ICT sector; a position it has earned through constant innovation and qualitative initiatives aimed at further developing Saudi nationals. Zain KSA's productive relationship with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and the Communications and Information Technology Commission, emphasize the company's dedication to supporting the targets of the Kingdom's Vision 2030."

Al-Kharafi confirmed 2020 will see further expansion of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and the 5G network to new cities across the Kingdom, supporting Zain KSA's focus on rolling out higher value B2B services targeting government and enterprise customers as well as individual data monetization initiatives.

Zain KSA launched its commercial 5G network in October 2019, the largest in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, which at the time of roll-out was the third largest globally. Through its first phase, the network serves 27 cities via 2,600 towers. Furthermore, Zain Saudi Arabia and Zain Kuwait launched the first 5G roaming service across the MENA region, with download speeds reaching as high as 500 Mbps for both outbound and inbound roaming.

Furthermore during 2019, Zain KSA built on its partnership with AliBaba Cloud, the world's third largest cloud computing entity, through which it launched Zain KSA Cloud. The company also recently delved into FinTech digital financial services through Tamam, which is offered via the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority's (SAMA) SandBox platform. Zain KSA has also concluded agreements with leading global technology companies to improve and develop the 5G ecosystem and is introducing various innovative digital services with regards to IoT, Healthcare, Fintech and Automation.