*Q4 net profit down 7.9 percent on provisions
*Qtel 2009 net profit up 20.5 percent at 2.78 bln riyals
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DUBAI, March 7 (Reuters) - Qatar Telecommunications Co (Qtel) reported a 7.9 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit on Sunday, dragged down by non-operational provisions in Kuwaiti unit Wataniya..
Qtel made a net profit attributable to shareholders of 431 million riyals ($118.5 million), down from 468 million riyals in the fourth quarter of 2008, a company statement said.
The company's full-year profit for 2009 was 2.78 billion riyals, up 20.5 percent from the previous year, mainly on growth in overseas markets including Iraq, Algeria and Indonesia .
Analysts polled by I/B/E/S had expected Qtel to post a net income of 606 million riyals for the quarter and 2.754 billion riyals for the year. A Reuters poll of two analysts forecast average quarterly earnings of 644 million riyals.
Competition in the Gulf region has heated up with a number of new entries in Qtel's home market and price competition taking a bite out of results in some units abroad, such as at Wataniya.
The statement said Wataniya's quarterly results were hit by non-operational provisions, but gave no details.
Facing intensifying competition in their home markets, Gulf Arab telecom firms have been expanding abroad, snapping up assets in Asia and Africa worth billions of dollars.
Qtel, which operates in 17 countries, has expanded rapidly abroad to mitigate the loss of its monopoly after Britain's Vodafone entered the Qatari market.
Its focus has been on acquisitions in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Indian subcontinent as well as south east Asia. ($1=3.638 Qatari riyals) (Reporting by Regan E. Doherty; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)