Du, the United Arab Emirates’ No.2 telecom operator
by subscriber numbers, reported a 17.8 percent rise in third-quarter net profit
on Tuesday, in line with analyst estimates as mobile data income and fixed line
revenue grew.
The firm, which competes with Etisalat, made a net
profit of AED558.7 million ($152 million) in the three months to September 30,
up from AED474.3 million in the year-earlier period.
Analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast
du would make a quarterly profit of AED563.1 million.
Third-quarter revenue was AED3.03 billion, up
from AED2.64 billion a year ago.
“Data continued to be a key market driver
during the quarter,” chief executive Osman Sultan said in the statement.
“The world is evolving to incorporate
integrated digital services into a commodity that is used throughout every
aspect of our daily lives. The issue for the industry however, remains our
ability to monetise data.”
Quarterly mobile revenue rose 9 percent year-on-year
to AED2.24 billion. Quarterly mobile data revenue was AED684 million,
up 11 percent from a year ago.
Fixed line services revenue increased 36 percent to
AED598 million over the same period.
Du said its average revenue per user (ARPU) – a
key industry metric – fell slightly in the third quarter. It did not provide
further details, but predicted ARPU would “remain steady over the coming
quarters”.
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