Mubasher: S&P Global Ratings affirmed its long-term and short-term corporate credit ratings of Ooredoo at “A-” and “A-2” respectively, revising the outlook to “positive”.
The outlook revision reflects S&P’s expectations that the telecom operator’s lower capital expenditure requirements are likely to result in higher FOCF in 2017 and 2018.
Ooredoo is expected to maintain solid credit ratios in the absence of sizable acquisitions.
Annual capex and license fees are likely to fall gradually to QAR 6-7 billion in 2017 and about QAR 5 billion in 2018.
