Nigeria's Starcomms says 9-mo profit quadruples

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian telecoms firm Starcomms said on Wednesday its core earnings (EBITDA) had more than quadrupled to 6.74 billion naira in the nine months to the end of September.

Nigeria's biggest fixed wireless operator said a 60 percent increase in its subscriber base -- which pushed revenues up five percent to 25.62 billion naira in the period -- and cost cutting had contributed to the rise in profits.

"Given the challenging economic climate, rising fuel prices and the fierce level of competition initiated by other CDMA operators, I am pleased with the company's performance," Chief Executive Maher Qubain said in a statement.

But Starcomms said unrealised foreign exchange losses due to a depreciation in the value of the local naira currency had contributed to a 1.1 billion naira pre-tax loss in the third quarter.

It said it had converted $60 million of its dollar-denominated debt into a medium-term naira facility which would reduce its exposure to exchange rate fluctuations.