UAE's du to pay 15 pct royalty fee from 2010 profit

UAE’s du to pay 15 pct royalty fee from 2010 profit

The commencement of the royalty fee payable to government will be effective from Jan 1, 2010.

February 15, 2011 4:00 by Reuters

UAE telecoms provider du will pay 15 percent of its net profit for 2010 as royalty to the government, it said in a statement released on Monday.

Du, partly owned by the ruler of Dubai’s investment company Dubai Holding and Abu Dhabi investment vehicle Mubadala Development Co, said commencement of the royalty fee payable to government will be effective from Jan 1, 2010.

The company is yet to report its full-year results. The telecom’s third-quarter profit more than doubled on strong revenue growth, spurred by a jump in mobile and fixed line subscribers.

“The ongoing royalty for subsequent years will be advised to the company in due course,” the statement said.

Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat the Arab world’s second-biggest telecoms company, lost its monopoly in the UAE market to Du in 2007, and has been aggressively expanding outside its home market since. (Reporting by Dinesh Nair, Editing by Shaheen Pasha)