DUBAI, July 30 (Reuters) - Vodafone Qatar, anaffiliate of Vodafone Group, blamed stiff competition asit reported a widening first-quarter loss on Thursday thatmissed analyst estimates.
Vodafone, which has yet to make a quarterly net profit sinceit ended state-controlled Ooredoo's domestic monopolyin 2009, made a net loss of 99.9 million riyals ($27.4million)in the three months to June 30, it said in a statement.
That compares with a loss of 27.4 million riyals in theprior-year period and the operator has now made widening lossesfor three successive quarters, Reuters data shows.
Vodafone Qatar's financial year starts on April 1.
Analysts had on average forecast Vodafone Qatar would make aquarterly loss of 56.8 million riyals.
"The Qatari telecom market continues to face extremelycompetitive pressure on prices, which is impactingthe company's results in the short term," Vodafone Qatarchairman Sheikh Dr Khalid Bin Thani Al Thani said in thestatement.
The company, which is 23 percent owned by parent Vodafoneand 22 percent by a Qatar government-linked fund, generatedfirst-quarter revenue of 538 million riyals. This was down from8 percent from the prior-year period.
($1 = 3.6412 Qatar riyals) (Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Olzhas Auyezov)