UAE Telco Du Q3 Profit Up 50 Pct; Data, Subscribers Grow

UAE Telco Du Q3 Profit Up 50 Pct; Data, Subscribers Grow

Du made a net profit of 244.3 million dirhams ($66.5 million), compared with a profit of 163.1 million dirhams in the same period a year ago.

October 31, 2011 9:17 by Reuters

UAE telecoms operator du beat analysts’ expectations on Monday as it reported a 50 percent rise in third-quarter net profit, driven by higher data revenue and contract mobile subscribers.

Du made a net profit of 244.3 million dirhams ($66.5 million), compared with a profit of 163.1 million dirhams in the same period a year ago.

Analysts polled by Reuters on average expected the firm to post a quarterly profit of 214 million dirhams.

Du, which ended Etisalat’s domestic monopoly in 2007, said revenues were 2.23 billion dirhams in the quarter, up from 1.74 billion dirhams a year earlier.

Mobile subscribers, which accounted for more than 75 percent of quarterly revenue, rose 162,000 from the second quarter to 4.94 million at September-end to give it a 45 percent market share.

Contract customers, which typically spend more than their pre-paid counterparts, “continued to grow”, du said, and now account for 7 percent of mobile subscribers.

Data revenue rose 46 percent year-on-year to 167 million dirhams, proving just under 10 percent of mobile revenue.

Du said it had 639,700 fixed line customers in the third-quarter, up 24 percent from a year earlier. It added 16,100 lines in the three months to Sept 30, implying slowing growth. ($1 = 3.673 UAE Dirhams) (Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by David French)