UAE telco du posts 62% profit hike

UAE telecoms operator du said first quarter net profit before royalty increased 61.8 percent as mobile revenues more than doubled. The Dubai-based service provider, also known as Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co, said net income for the first three months of the year increased to AED666m (US$181 million) from AED412m a year earlier. “We have achieved healthy growth in revenues, with strong performance from what we believe will be key drivers going forward, including mobile data revenue and our post-paid subscriber base,” Osman Sultan, CEO of du, said in a statement. Mobile revenue grew 21.8 percent to AED1.9bn while total revenue increased 20 percent to AED2.4bn. The operator, which competes with Etisalat, added 320,600 mobile subscriptions in the first quarter, bringing the total number of mobile lines to 5.5m. Fixed-line customers increased 13.5 percent to 545,300. The firm, which launched its services in 2007, has a 46.7 percent share of the UAE mobile market.