Dubai: Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, or du, said net profit for the second quarter of 2010 more than doubled to Dh275 million compared to Dh115 million in the same period of 2009 as it added to its mobile subscriber base.

The 42 per cent increase over the previous quarter's profit of Dh194 million was achieved on the back of sustained growth in revenues and continued subscriber additions, the company said.

The company's shares closed one per cent higher at Dh2.03 on the Dubai Financial Market. The index closed 0.34 per cent lower.

Du said it added 182,100 net active mobile subscribers during the second quarter, taking the total as of June 30 to 3.92 million.

Revenues increased 30 per cent to Dh1.70 billion compared to Dh1.31 billion in the second quarter of 2009 and an eight per cent increase compared to the first quarter of this year.

Chairman Ahmad Bin Byat said, "The success of our recent rights issue, raising Dh1 billion to fund our growth plans, provided a clear message from our shareholder base that the management team and the strategy in place has strong ongoing support.

"The enhanced capital structure will provide us with access to a wider range of funding options to support our growth plans into the future."

Subscriber growth was the main driver behind du's mobile revenues, which reached Dh1.26 billion, up 43 per cent year-on-year.

"The growth story is continuing in a very satisfying way, regardless of seasonality," du chief executive Osman Sultan said on a conference call.

"This is most likely the highest growth rate achieved by a telecoms service provider in this region this quarter."

Du's competitor etisalat last month reported a 21 per cent drop in net profit for the second quarter to Dh1.9 billion. Etisalat has 7.8 million mobile subscribers in the UAE.

"Du is definitely growing at a faster rate in terms of subscribers. Etisalat is more in retention mode," said Simon Simonian, senior vice-president at investment bank Shuaa Capital.

Internet:  future growth

In a market that is fast approaching saturation, du is looking for growth "outside the box", chief executive Osman Sultan said. The company is considering joint ventures in value additions that "sit on top of connectivity", he said.

One very clear area of future growth is on the internet platform. "One of our joint ventures will create a portal, a digital destination, if you will. Currently, there is no Arab world portal that can be counted as such a destination."