All Du respect

All Du respect

This week, Du’s Q3 report recorded an all time high profit of Dh163 million. Kipp takes a closer look at recent news surrounding Du.

November 8, 2010 4:58 by Eva Fernandes

No international investments planned
Unlike the ubiquitous Etisalat, which is reported to have a presence in more than 18 countries, Du has more modest sights and does not envision expanding its operations out of the UAE. Speaking to Arabian Business Du’s CEO Osman Sultan said: “Du going in the track of regional expansion in the traditional model either by licenses or acquisition will be value destructive for the company and its shareholders.”

Achieving market presence comparable to Etisalat
And while Du may not be setting its sights overseas, it is certainly staying focused in the UAE. Du CEO Sultan told Arabian Business that Du is “eyeing equal market share with Etisalat.”
Gaining 182,100 subscribers by the second quarter of the year, Du apparently boasts an impressive four million active mobile subscribers, though it’s still realistic about its aspirations. CEO Sultan said: “Obviously it isn’t going to happen overnight; every point of market share that you gain is more and more difficult. I don’t think how quickly [it happens] is important. We are committed to making this happen while not compromising on the profitability of this company.”

Investing in Infrastructure
When Du first launched, a popular complaint was the poor signal connection available to Du numbers. It seemed if you got too far underground or if it was a very humid day you wouldn’t be able to receive calls. Since that time Du has invested millions in infrastructure and has consequently quashed all such complaints. In fact earlier this year, Bloomberg reported the telecom company announced plans to invest at least another Dh.2.2 billion to improve its network infrastructure, a further Dh.1.3 billion improve its mobile network infrastructure Dh.854 million on its fixed line and broadcasting business. Du hopes these investments will help attract users seeking high speed Web access for music downloads and other online services.

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Tags: Du, du BB, du blackberry, du expansion, du mobile marketshare, du Q3, du third quarter report, Du UAE

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2 Comments

Andrea on November 9, 2010 10:56 am

Let’s not fool ourselves, Kipp: this is a market with ample potential for 3, maybe even four operators.

The fact that the government is barring anybody else from entering the market is an anti-competitive policy that explains how these two operators can remain profitable in spite of embarrassingly poor customer service and fenomenally high prices.

Neither of these two operators could survive in any healthy, competitive market like the ones found in other parts of the world.

And we – the customers, that is – are paying the brunt of this anomaly.
Andrew on November 10, 2010 8:08 am

If my company operated in a du(opoly) environment and received price protection from the regulator for the first 3 years … I’d be pretty damn successful too.