"Indian and African markets still have huge potential of growth, especially in mobile telephony," said Peter Kaliaropoulos, chief executive officer of Batelco at its quarterly results briefing on 28 October.

"These markets have been earmarked by Batelco as the best business opportunity for its expansion plan."

According to Kaliaropoulos, just 36 per cent of Batelco's revenues and 20 per cent of its net profits come from its existing overseas operations.

Batelco operates the third mobile phone licence in Jordan under the brand name Umniah.

It also operates a mobile phone licence in Yemen using the Sabafone brand.

The company operates one of three fixed-line licences awarded in Saudi Arabia in late 2007, through a joint venture with the local Atheeb consortium.

Batelco reported net profits of BD29.2m ($77.5m) for the third quarter of the year, up 8.3 per cent on the same period in 2007.

The company's revenues were BD85m, up 10.4 per cent on the year before.