PARIS — Mobile satellite services provider Thuraya Telecommunications Co. reported $122 million in revenue in 2013, up 15 percent from 2012, and is forecasting its revenue will surpass $200 million by 2018.
EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was up 29 percent, to $36 million, the company said in a statement emailed March 25, adding that among the principal mobile satellite services providers, it is the least indebted as a multiple of EBITDA after it restructured its debt.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Thuraya, which operates two large satellites in geostationary orbit, at 44 degrees east and 98.5 degrees east, and serves customers in 160 nations, said its high-margin data revenue rose 26 percent in 2013 from 2012, while voice revenue rose 14 percent.
Thuraya said services revenue accounted for 73 percent of the total in 2013, with equipment revenue at 27 percent.
Thuraya has been working to turn around its business since 2011, notably with an expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. It launched services in Japan, China, Taiwan, Australia and the Philippines last year. Revenue from the region, which was just $3 million in 2010, was $18 million in 2013.
Thuraya said its 15 percent revenue increase in 2013 followed a 4 percent increase in 2012. “This growth for two consecutive years now was achieved at a time when troop withdrawal and other factors have caused our competitors to report declining revenues,” Thuraya said in a statement.
Thuraya Chief Executive Samer Halawi has said the company is crafting a strategy in which it partners with fixed satellite services fleet operators, whose satellites operate mainly in the Ku- and C-bands, for access to the maritime market.
“We are now looking to take Thuraya to the next stage of its development, possibly working with a new strategic partner — commercial, financial or a combination of both — to enable the business to grow at a still faster rate … and to finance unique next-generation capabilities,” the company said.
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