Cairo – Mubasher: Telecom Egypt said that its board of directors has approved the 2022 budget which targets early double-digit revenue growth and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin in the mid to high thirties.

In addition, the company also aims to record in-service capital expenditures (CapEx)-to-sales ratio in the mid-twenties and free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) to EBITDA of early double-digit, according to a bourse disclosure on Thursday. 

The telecom operator's Managing Director and CEO, Adel Hamed, said, "Our CapEx cycle is expected to slow down as we have nearly completed our copper-to-fibre replacement program."

"We plan to diversify our investments to include our mobile network, data centres, and internal system upgrades to grow our service portfolio and enhance customer experience. Additionally, we plan to follow through with our financing strategy to deleverage over time while enhancing our financing cost," Hamed added. 

"We expect our free cash flow to grow during the upcoming year on the back of strong operational cash flow, CapEx rationalisation efforts, and certainty on dividends from Vodafone. This will support us in maximising shareholder value while we tackle our strategic goals of becoming a leading ICT provider and a facilitator of Egypt’s plan to become a regional digital hub."

In the first half (H1) of 2021, Telecom Egypt reported consolidated net profits of EGP 3.87 billion, up from EGP 2.06 billion in H1-20, including minority shareholders' rights.