Dubai: Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia’s No. 2 telecommunications operator, has requested that its shares be temporarily suspended, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The suspension was requested because its audit committee was meeting to consider “significant matters relating to its financial statements”, the statement said without elaborating. Mobily, an affiliate of the United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat, said it would announce the results of the meeting once it had been completed. The company is expected soon to announce its third-quarter earnings.