Du steps up push for bigger market share of SMEs in the UAE

Du is targeting a 50 per cent share of the SME market and has launched a new service together with Microsoft to help it achieve that. Sarah Dea / The National

Du is increasing efforts to loosen Etisalat's grip on the UAE's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as the two operators gear up for competition on all fronts next year.

There are between 250,000 and 300,000 SMEs in the UAE and du has about 30 per cent of the sector at present, it said yesterday.

This year the UAE Government launched initiatives to help the growth of SMEs and Sultan Al Mansouri, the Minister of Economy, said at the time that he hoped that the contribution of SMEs to non-oil GDP would jump to 70 per cent by 2020 from the current 60 per cent.

Du is targeting 50 per cent market share and has launched a new service together with Microsoft to help it achieve that after previous efforts to attract new SME customers fell short.

“We launched the Entrepreneur Plan about 18 months ago aimed at the connectivity of the country’s SMEs – it included a smartphone. We have learnt from that – what we got right and what we got wrong,” said Hany Fahmy Aly, the executive vice president of enterprise business at du.

“The UAE’s SMEs need more professional and more technical options, and that is what the Office 365 offers.”

The new plan will give customers access to Microsoft Office tools as well as cloud-based services such as storage and emails starting at Dh20 per user per month, rising to Dh55 for its comprehensive plan. Typically a company will pay Dh18 to Dh46 per head just for the licence to use Microsoft’s software.

Last year Etisalat offered pay-as-you-go cloud services for SMEs aimed at reducing their IT costs by up to 60 per cent and cut time to market by up to 90 per cent.

Ihsan Anabtawi, regional manager of Office division at Microsoft Gulf said they had seen growth in SME adoption of cloud computing services in the UAE, but the region still required education to drive growth.

“You don’t necessarily have to move all your data to the cloud,” said Mr Anabtawi. “What companies are finding is that large cloud providers that have the right set-up can secure and handle private data better than what you can do yourself.”

Cloud computing traffic is set to grow faster in the Middle East than anywhere else in the world, as rapid broadband and smartphone adoption fuels demand, according to a report from Cisco Systems.

Du’s third quarter net profit after royalty fees was up 18 per cent year on year to Dh559 million, as fixed-line and mobile revenues boosted earnings. Overseas expansion helped Etisalat book a 22 per cent increase in its profit after royalty during the period to Dh2.2 billion.

The two operators will from next year go head to head for home, fixed-line and broadband customers for the first time with the increased competition expected to slow domestic earnings growth.

“Both operators and generally many telecoms see the enterprise business market as one that still offers good growth prospects and, in particular, the SME sector is one where operators think they can expand,” said Matthew Reed, practice leader of Middle East and Africa at Ovum analysts.

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