Etisalat approves full-year 2019 dividend of 80 fils per share

The telco currently operates in 16 markets, catering to more than 149 million subscribers

Emirates Investment Authority, the UAE's federal sovereign wealth fund, owns a 60 per cent stake in Etisalat, which has operations in 14 countries. Courtesy Etisalat

Etisalat, the UAE's biggest telecom operator, approved a full-year 2019 dividend of 80 fils per share at the company’s annual general meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

"Etisalat continued to reinforce its core business, explore new growth opportunities… while transitioning to the digital era and being well-geared for the future," said Obaid Al Tayer, the telco's group chairman.

The company reported flat full-year net profit of Dh8.7 billion in 2019 due to a dip in revenues from international operations and mobile earnings in the UAE. Revenue during the period decreased close to 0.3 per cent to Dh52.2bn.

Etisalat Group continued to achieve “strong financial performance” and maintained its “high credit rating reflecting a proven long-term performance and efforts to provide value to shareholders”, said Mr Tayer.

Etisalat, which had a monopoly in the UAE until the country's second telecoms operator Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, also known as du, entered the market in 2007, owns and operates subsidiaries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The telco also owns a 28 per cent stake in Saudi telecoms company Etihad Etisalat (Mobily).

In May last year, it became the first service provider in the region to offer a 5G network, supporting smartphones for commercial use. Soon after, the country's second telecoms operator du and Bahrain's Batelco followed suit.

"5G is a game changer with Etisalat taking the lead in the launch of the network which will amplify the use of futuristic services, target new opportunities and implement 5G use cases across verticals," said Saleh Al Abdooli, group chief executive of Etisalat.

The operator, which is constructing more than 1,000 5G towers in the country, has teamed up with Chinese tech giant Huawei to roll out 5G across the UAE.

A 5G network delivers internet speed of up to 1.2 gigabits per second, which will gradually evolve to reach 10Gbps — more than 100 times faster than 4G.

“We managed to confine the negative impact of various challenges with successful initiatives that aimed at maximising synergy at group level, enhancing efficiency, and rationalising costs,” said Mr Abdooli.

Etisalat currently operates in 16 markets, catering to more than 149 million subscribers.