Dubai: Telecom operator du has reported an 8.3 per cent year on year decline in second-quarter profit to Dh502 million compared to Dh547.7 million due to higher taxes (royalties).
Osman Sultan, du’s chief executive officer, said that royalties increased by 18.8 per cent in the second quarter toDh476.5 million compared to Dh401.2 million a year earlier.
Royalties are paid to the UAE Federal Government.
Mobile revenues totalled Dh2.23 billion, a 1.4 per cent drop compared to Dh2.26 billion registered in the second quarter of last year.
Mobile data revenues increased by 4.9 per cent to Dh719.3 million compared to Dh685.9 million while fixed revenue climbed 20.2 per cent to Dh649.8 million compared to Dh540.7 million during the same period last year.
Mobile data now represents 31.1 per cent of overall mobile service revenues, up from 29.4 per cent in the same period a year ago.
The telecom operator has close to 46 per cent of the UAE mobile subscriber base. “It is worth noting that we have been rigorously applying the ‘My Number, My Identity’ campaign requirements over the year. While we continue to witness some impact to our subscriber base, we expect this to weaken over the next quarter,” said Sultan.
Around 300,000 du SIMs was cancelled in the second quarter as most of it happened in the end of the first quarter. “It will clear the base and make way for a healthier growth in the future,” he said.
The company plans to distribute an interim dividend of 13 fils per share to its shareholders, up from 12 fils per share during the same period last year, and a special dividend payment of 10 fils per share, both of which will be proposed at the General Meeting in September.
“It is clear that data services are going to add much more to revenue as growth engines than voice services as we move into future. The slight impact on the mobile revenues drop could be due to school holidays and Ramadan in the last quarter,” Sukhdev Singh, associate vice-president at market research and analysis services provider AMRB.
The telecom operator‘s overall revenue rose 2.2 per cent to Dh3.09 billion in the second quarter of 2015 with strong contributions from the mobile data and fixed line segments of the business.
Total mobile customer base stood at 7.36 million during the quarter, up 2.7 per cent from 7.16 million in second quarter of last year. Within this, mobile postpaid customers grew 14.2 per cent to 853,100 compared to 746,700 customers during the same period last year.
The operator’s average revenue per user also declined to Dh92.6 in the second quarter of 2015 in comparison to Dh96.8 in second quarter of last year.
Sultan said that the third quarter is always a slow quarter in terms of seasonality. But so far, it is showing good signs.
Du is 39.5 per cent owned by Emirates Investment Authority, 20.081 per cent by Mubadala Development Company PJSC, 19.5 per cent by Emirates Communications and Technology LLC and the remaining stake by public shareholders.
