Etisalat Group reports Dhs4.6bn consolidated net profit for H1 2020, up 3% y-on-y

Etisalat Group reported Dhs4.6bn in consolidated net profits for H1 2020, a 3 per cent year-on- increase.

This followed a federal royalty payment and also resulted in a net profit margin of 18 per cent.

However, consolidated revenues of the UAE’s biggest telecom operator amounted to Dhs25.6bn, down slightly by 1 per cent.

The consolidated EBITDA amounted to Dhs13.2bn resulting in an EBITDA margin of 52 per cent.

Etisalat said that its subscriber base reached 146 million, down from the 150 million it had reported at the end of the first quarter.

During the acceleration of the pandemic and the resultant lockdowns in the UAE earlier this year, Etisalat – in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) – offered free mobile data to over 12,000 students whose families did not have Internet at home to facilitate remote learning as schools were shut across the country.

More than 10 million Etisalat mobile subscribers obtained free browsing to over 800 websites related to education, health and safety.

Read: Etisalat provides free mobile data to over 12,000 students in UAE to access e-learning

“Etisalat Group has delivered a good performance in the first half of 2020 considering the circumstances; the world is voyaging through unchartered waters and Covid-19 has affected all industries including the telecom sector,” said Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, chairman of Etisalat Group.

“We are witnessing an opportunity to fast track digital transformation. The unconventional conditions have spurred the adoption of digital services, bridging a divide by changing customers’ behaviour towards digital channels. Etisalat’s innovative solutions have catered for the social distancing era, it has enabled remote working and education, it minimised human interactions and increased the pace of automation. Our infrastructure has accommodated the surge in requirements and is ready for more acceleration in digital adoption,” added Al Tayer.

On May 20, Etisalat’s group CEO Saleh Al Abdooli, who assumed the role in March 2016, resigned for personal reasons.

The board appointed Hatem Dowidar as acting group CEO in place of Al Abdooli.

Read: UAE telecoms operator Etisalat CEO resigns

“Today the digital revolution is in full force with businesses looking at every window of opportunity to transform their services and solutions. At Etisalat our focus to realise the vision and strategy of ‘Driving the digital future to empower societies’ supported customers during these unprecedented times by providing them a plethora of new innovative services and emerging technologies backed with resilient connectivity to mitigate the exponential spikes in the network,” said Dowidar, who apart from being the group CEO is also the CEO of Etisalat International.

“Despite the global economic pressure, Etisalat is confidently moving forward and progressing positively in enabling societies across its operations,” added Dowidar.