The telecommunications operator du is targeting high-end consumers in an attempt to boost its mobile phone data revenues to above 10 per cent of its mobile business.
It derives 10 per cent of its mobile revenues from data usage and says this will grow this year amid a worldwide boom in demand forecast to push global mobile data revenues to US$223 billion (Dh819.08bn) by 2015 from $100bn last year, according to the research firm Ovum.
"We will have our data revenue exceeding 10 per cent for 2011," said Osman Sultan, the chief executive of du.
Mr Sultan, who was speaking on the sidelines of the Apps Arabia conference in Dubai, said the company was seeking potential customers with a higher average revenue per user (Arpu).
"We're targeting a better Arpu. We always said to have our Arpu improving, and we have evidence last year that this was the case, so we hope to be still on that track."
Globally, telecoms companies are enjoying a growth in demand for mobile broadband.
Increasing sales of smartphones and tablets such as the iPad are expected to spur global mobile-data revenues.
However, the rise is forecast to be below the corresponding rise in demand for connections, Ovum said.
Mr Sultan said du was looking at different ways to monetise mobile data usage. These could include "different tariffs, different type of users, different types of segmentation", he said.
Meanwhile, the UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said this week the launch of mobile number portability (MNP) - designed to allow consumers to switch between operators Etisalat and du without changing their mobile number - had been delayed until the third quarter of this year.
Mr Sultan said du intended to launch new price plans after the launch of MNP.
Competition within the UAE telecoms market is also expected to increase following the planned infrastructure sharing between the two telecoms operators. Both Etisalat and du will soon be able to offer fixed-line services such as broadband across the country, whereas previously they were restricted to certain areas.
Mr Sultan said infrastructure sharing was "progressing", and du was likely to offer nationwide services "before the end of the year".
bflanagan@thenational.ae
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