Record profits are rung up by du

The country's second-biggest telecommunications company du gains 266,000 new subscribers as Etisalat loses some 30,000 in the first quarter.

In the first three months of this year, du gained 266,000 mobile subscribers.
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Mobile customers continue to flock to du, the country's second-biggest mobile operator, which has reported record first-quarter results that included its highest profits and revenues so far. In the first three months of this year, du gained 266,000 mobile subscribers. Etisalat, the biggest telecommunications company in the UAE, lost about 30,000 in the same period in only the second quarterly subscriber decline in its history.

In a statement accompanying the results, du said it "remains the provider of choice for the majority of new mobile subscribers in the UAE". The company has consistently attracted the majority of new subscribers since the beginning of last year. The surge of du's new customers, an increasing number of whom come from the higher-spending market segment prized by Etisalat, also led to a 36 per cent rise in revenues over the same period last year.

Profit at the company, which first broke even in late 2008, reached Dh194 million (US$52.8m), almost four times the Dh47m recorded in the first quarter of last year. The record results come as du plans to raise Dh1 billion from its shareholders in a rights issue aimed at funding a new phase of growth for the company. It plans to boost network capacity to accommodate an increasing number of data-hungry smartphones that are being connected to the network.

@Email:tgara@thenational.ae