Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company reports third quarter 2021 results

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (“EITC”) announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2021. broadband and 5G handset services. Above all, mobile services are continuing their recovery thanks to a buoyant postpaid segment. EBITDA amounted to AED 1,100 million thanks to cost optimization which contained the pressure on margins due to direct costs. Net profit amounted to AED 283 million despite higher depreciation charges.

Operating Highlights

The mobile customer base reached 6.5 million. The postpaid segment remains resilient with net additions of 13,000. The postpaid customer base grew to 1.3 million thanks to an improved digital customer experience as well as enhancements to Power Plans. The prepaid customer base fell to 5.2 million subscribers due to a combination of summer seasonality and flight restrictions brought by the Covid-19 Delta variant.
Sustained commercial dynamics of Fixed Services on different product categories. The simplicity of our consumer offering helped accelerate net additions to 52,000. We ended the quarter with 331,000 broadband customers. Demand from the Enterprise segment is also coming back.
The capital deployment plan is bearing fruit. Following a major deployment, our 5G network covers 90% of the population. Independent testing confirmed that our network was the fastest during the quarter. Additionally, we inaugurated two data centers, KIZAD in Abu Dhabi and Dubai Silicon Oasis. These centers have a combined capacity of 2.7 MW.

Financial Highlights

Revenue increased by 6.9% year-on-year to reach AED2,874 million. Fixed income increased by 14.7% to reach AED 731 million as the consumer and enterprise segments continued to perform well. “Other income” increased by 16.6% to reach AED839 million due to the doubling of handset sales and higher wholesale revenue. A booming postpaid segment sparked the recovery in mobile phone revenues to AED 1,304 million.
EBITDA declined by 4.9% year-on-year to reach AED1,100 million. Our cost optimization plan continues to bear fruit. We streamlined marketing and G&A expenses. We have improved our collections, thus reducing the provisions on receivables. These various initiatives have reduced direct cost pressure (product costs, interconnection costs).
Net profit (adjusted)¹ decreased by 7.1% to reach AED283 million. Depreciation increased due to our ambitious investment program. The sale of Khazna Data Center in 2020 reduced the contribution of the partners.
Capex fell by 27.3% to AED372 million due to staggered spending. As a result, operating free cash flow increased to AED 728 million.

Fahad Al Hassaoui, CEO, said:

“I am very pleased that consumer and business confidence is picking up. Our Fixed Services business had another solid quarter. Broadband net additions grew to 52,000 thanks to an attractive service offering. In addition, we are seeing a return of business demand for fixed services. Our commercial initiatives in mobile services are bearing fruit. Discounted prepaid mobile rates are pushing gross additions on the prepaid segment towards pre-pandemic levels. Our enhanced postpaid rate plan drives usage and paves the way for ARPU growth. This quarter is an inflection point for mobile services revenues: we have returned to nominal growth (+0.7% quarter-on-quarter) after three consecutive quarters of decline.

After two years of capital deployment, I am pleased to announce that our 5G network is now accessible to 90% of the population. The next step is to ensure seamless access for all residents. We remain committed to delivering value to our customers and will continue to be a market differentiator. »

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About the integrated telecommunications company Emirates PJSC

The Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (EITC) was founded in 2005. We are the second licensed telecommunications operator in the UAE. We operate under two brands: du (launched in 2007) and Virgin Mobile, the region’s first digital service (launched in September 2017).

We are listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and trade under the symbol DU (Bloomberg DU UH, Refinitiv Eikon DU.DU). Our main shareholders are government related entities (Emirates Investment Authority 50.12%, Emirates International Telecommunications Company LLC 19.7%, Mamoura Diversified Global Holding PJSC 10.06%).

Media contact Investor contact
Noora Al Mansoori Eric Chang
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