Etisalat's fourth-quarter profit after royalty rises 2.4% to Dh2bn

UAE's biggest telecommunications firm reports revenue of Dh13bn

Shoppers walk in front of Etisalat Telecommunication in Dubai Mall, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 20, 2018. Picture taken December 20, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Powered by automated translation

Etisalat, the UAE’s biggest telecom operator, posted a 2.4 per cent increase in fourth quarter net profit as it continued to add more customers last year.

Net profit after federal royalty rose to Dh2 billion, the company said on Tuesday.

Revenue for the period reached Dh13bn, Etisalat said, without giving a comparative figure for the 2017 period.

“Etisalat’s performance in 2018 is a testimonial of the group resilience and ability to mitigate the pressures arising from the dynamic challenges facing the industry,” said Saleh Al Abdooli, the group chief executive.

The company had reported only full-year profitability earlier this month.

Etisalat posted a 2.4 per cent increase in 2018 net profit to Dh8.6bn due to higher international and local income.

Revenue during the period grew 1.4 per cent to Dh52.4bn. Earnings per share grew slightly to Dh0.99 in 2018.

The company will be ready to provide 5G service to all of its customers in 2019 and plans to build 300 5G towers in the first half of 2019 while setting up 600 5G sites over the year, it said last week. It will provide the infrastructure and network to support all 5G devices launched by global mobile device manufacturers such as Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung.

The new 5G sites - which will house Etisalat’s network infrastructure and hardware - will be located at strategic locations to cover different parts of the Emirates.