Abu Dhabi: The Nigerian operation of the UAE telecommunication services operator, Etisalat, has signed a $1.2 billion (Dh4.4 billion) equivalent medium-term syndicated loan facility, Etisalat said on Monday.
In a mandatory filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Etisalat said the Nigeria operation planned to use the proceeds to “refinance the existing commercial medium-term debt of $650 million and continue its network rollout across Nigeria.”
It added: “The facility has both Naira and US dollar tranches from a consortium of 13 Nigerian banks.”
Etisalat has a 40 per cent stake in Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Ltd, which operates in the African country under the name of Etisalat Nigeria.
Etisalat’s fiscal first quarter net profit post-federal royalty increased one per cent year-on-year to Dh1.83 billion, while revenue increased during the same period 17 per cent to Dh9.60 billion.
Analysts say Etisalat’s local operations are facing intense competition from rival du and any major profit increase will come only from the foreign operations of Etisalat.
Etisalat has operations in 15 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The company’s international acquisition programme began in earnest in 2004 when it won a second mobile licence in Saudi Arabia. Since then, the company has witnessed rapid expansion that has positioned it as one of the world’s fastest growing operators, with subscribers rocketing from four million in 2004 to 141 million in 2013.
Etisalat is in the process of launching fourth-generation long-term evolution (4G LTE) networks in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and it currently owns the Middle East’s fastest fixed-line broadband network with speeds of up to 30 mega-bits per second (Mbps).
