Fahad Al Hassawi
Fahad Al Hassawi will oversee du's transformation that it had mapped out last year. The first quarter results showed promise and du will be expecting further improvements. Image Credit: Virendra Saklani/Gulf News

Dubai: The Dubai telecom operator has confirmed Fahad Al Hassawi as its new CEO. He had been holding the role of acting CEO from September 17, 2020.

Al Hassawi’s formal tenure starts as the company goes through a major restructuring of operations. The recently announced first quarter numbers provided quite a lift, with overall revenues of Dh2.88 billion, 5.2 per cent higher than in the October to December 2020 phase. Mobile-driven revenues came to Dh1.31 billion, while the subscriber base was 6.8 million.

“We will not thrive by simply meeting their expectations: we continue to anticipate their needs and delight them,” said Al Hassawi in a statement at the time. “For this reason, we initiated a transformation late last year and deliberately stepped up our capital allocation.

“The new operating model seeks to deliver deeper and more personalised customer engagement, a faster go-to-market approach, and a purpose and performance driven culture.”

We added 13k broadband customers during the [first] quarter, which is nearly as much as the annual net-adds in previous years. Strong demand for iPhone 12 and other 5G enabled handsets are a precursor for demand for 5G services.

- Fahad Al Hassawi, du's new CEO, in a statement he made after the first quarter 2021 results