UAE telecom operator du posts 4% rise in Q3 profit

Du, the United Arab Emirates’ No.2 telecom operator, posted a 4 per cent rise in third-quarter net profit on Tuesday, in line with the forecasts of two analysts.

Du, which ended rival Etisalat’s domestic monopoly in 2007, made a net profit after royalty of Dhs475.7m ($129.5m) in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with Dhs457.2m a year earlier.

SICO Bahrain forecast du to post a quarterly profit of Dhs453.5m, while EFG Hermes estimated Dhs454.6m.

Third-quarter revenue was Dhs3.13bn, slightly down from Dhs3.14bn in the same period of last year.

But du was helped by a decline in the royalties it paid to the government. It paid Dhs515.2m in the quarter, compared with Dhs537.9m in the same period of last year.

Before reporting flat profit growth for the second quarter, the telecommunications firm had reported declining year-on-year profits for the previous 10 quarters, according to Reuters data, as growth of the mobile market was offset by a steady rise in the royalties it paid.

In January, the company said it had acquired a licence to operate Virgin Mobile-branded services in the UAE.