Zain Saudi Arabia has narrowed its first-quarter losses by 20 per cent, after an increase in the volume of calls placed and greater broadband use among customers.
The telecoms company reported a first-quarter net loss of 532 million riyals (Dh521m), compared with a 662m riyal loss for the same period last year.
Zain Saudi had "succeeded in significantly increasing the volume of calls and the average broadband use on its network", the company said.
Revenues for the quarter stood at 1.48 billion riyals, a 36 per cent increase on the same period last year, the company said.
This month Zain Saudi signed a two-year refinancing agreement worth 2.25bn riyals to try to reduce costs and finance future growth.
The Zain Group of Kuwait holds a 25 per cent stake in Zain Saudi. The group is in negotiations over a sale of the stake to Kingdom Holding, an investment company run by the Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the Bahraini telecoms firm Batelco.
A divestment of Zain's 25 per cent stake in Zain Saudi was a precondition for a bid by the UAE's Etisalat to buy a controlling stake in Zain Group.
Etisalat last month abandoned its US$12bn (Dh44.07bn) bid for control of Zain, although some analysts say a revised bid could be on the cards.
Meanwhile, Egypt's Orascom Telecom, the region's largest mobile operator by subscriber numbers, reported a $169.5m net loss in its fourth quarter compared with the same period the year before, falling below analysts' expectations.
Depreciation of the Egyptian pound last year and pressures in non-domestic markets were cited as reasons for the loss.
The group reported a 2 per cent growth in revenues last year to $3.8bn, on the back of growth in most of its mobile phone markets.
Orascom's Algerian unit Djezzy, its biggest single source of revenue, has been in a dispute with the government, which charged it millions of dollars in back taxes and imposed restrictions on moving profits abroad.
The news comes amid gloomy first-quarter results for regional telecoms.
Etisalat on Monday reported an 8.5 per cent decline in first-quarter profits to Dh1.82bn, attributed to high capital expenditure and greater competition from its domestic rival du.