With an increase in mobile and fixed line subscribers, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (also known as du) has reported a 21% increase in first-quarter net profits.
On Thursday, the Dubai Financial Market, where the company’s shares are traded, announced that its net profit for the three months ended March 31 rose to Dh311 million ($84.7 million).
Mobile customers on both prepaid and postpaid plans saw an increase of more than 10% at UAE’s second-largest telecoms provider, reaching 7.5 million by the end of the quarter.
“targeted offers, brisk tourism activity, and continued improvement in the economic environment” are to blame for the company’s third consecutive quarter of net additions in the postpaid segment, according to a statement.
We proudly have announced our financial results for the quarter-ended 31 March 2022 (Q1). Our revenues grew by 8.5% to AED 3.1 billion on sustained demand for our various broadband and mobile services. pic.twitter.com/IFhO0ndT1D
— dutweets (@dutweets) April 28, 2022
During the third quarter, the telecom provider added 48,000 new broadband customers, more than tripling its year-over-year growth. It had 439,000 broadband customers at the end of the quarter.
On a year-over-year basis, the company’s revenue grew by nearly 9% in the first quarter to more than Dh3.1 billion, according to du.
According to du CEO Fahad Al Hassawi, the results show that the company’s “recovery trajectory is on a sustainable path” and that the Covid-19 impact is fading.
“We continued to experience increased mobility and a general improvement in the economic environment. We also continued our efforts to deploy our innovative portfolio of products and services and to implement the transformation of the company.”
A 7 percent rise to Dh1.4bn in first-quarter revenue from mobile services was reported by du. The January-to-March period saw a total of Dh216 million in phone sales.
Profits from fixed-line services increased by nearly 23% to Dh815 million, thanks to “sustained demand from consumers and enterprises.”
“Our considerable infrastructure investment allows us to continue innovating and improve customer experience … In addition, our strategy has been validated by this quarter’s results… In addition to modernizing our infrastructure, we intend to revitalize our core mobile and fixed operations, according to Mr. Al Hassawi.
First-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, known as “Ebitda,” rose by more than 13% on a year-over-year basis to Dh1.26bn in the first three months. Higher Ebitda was “partially offset by increased depreciation charges triggered by our infrastructure investment,” according to the statement.
Emirates Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment Company, and Emirates International Telecommunications own 50.12 percent, 10.06 percent, and 19.7 percent, respectively, of du, the UAE’s second-licensed telecommunications provider. The remaining 19.7 percent of du’s shares are publicly traded.
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