Du Q3 profit slides on higher expenses

The company reports $77.05m in net profit during the period

Telecom company du's revenue jumped 6.9% to Dh2.87bn during the third-quarter. Sarah Dea/The National

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, also known as du, reported a 65.6 per cent slide in third-quarter net profit, as operating expenses rose and the operator registered higher depreciation and amortisation charges, despite a rise in revenue.

The total profit for the three month period to the end of September declined to Dh283 million ($77.05m), the company said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded. Operating expenses during the period jumped more than 14 per cent to Dh2.26 billion from a year earlier.

Revenue jumped 6.9 per cent to Dh2.87bn on sustained demand for broadband services and 5G handsets, according to the company.

“Our fixed services business delivered another solid quarter,” Fahad Al Hassawi, chief executive of du, said. “Broadband net-adds accelerated to 52k thanks to an attractive service offering. In addition, we see corporate demand for fixed services returning.”

“Our commercial initiatives in mobile services are bearing fruits. The refreshed prepaid mobile tariffs are pushing gross-adds on the prepaid segment towards pre-pandemic levels."

Following two years of capital deployment, the company’s “5G network is now accessible to 90 per cent of the population," he said.

The company's mobile customer base reached 6.5 million in the period, with the company gaining 1.3 million post-paid customers, while prepaid customers fell to 5.2 million subscribers due to "summer seasonality and flight restrictions brought by the Covid-19 Delta variant", the company said.