Etisalat, the leading telecommunications group that delivers innovative solutions to help transform the communities in which it operates to accelerate social development and economic growth, today announced a Group profit of Dh3.430 billion and a net profit after government royalty at Dh1.809 billion for the first quarter ended 31 March 2012.
Etisalat Group recorded first quarter revenue of Dh 8.205 billion, an increase of 2 percent over the same period of the previous year. Revenue earned from international operations grew 21 percent on the same period last year. Operating margins also remained resilient, with operating profit before federal royalty of Dh 3.43 billion, representing a margin of 42 percent. Etisalat maintained a healthy liquidity position with cash reserves of Dh 11.5 billion.
“Group performance has been solid for the first quarter and was capped by receiving major accolades from our global industry peers. We won three of the most prestigious international telecommunications awards at this year’s Mobile World Congress in recognition of our innovations in mobile healthcare and mobile commerce, and we were named “Most Powerful Company in the UAE” by Forbes Middle East,” Etisalat Chairman Mohammad Omran said.
“I would like to thank our committed staff, loyal customers and long-term investors who are very much a part of Etisalat’s exciting journey towards being a top ten global telecommunications leader.”
“Our growth in this first quarter is predominantly due to increased penetration into high population markets, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria and Afghanistan, as well as through developing innovative services to serve our clients better,” Omran added.
“Etisalat’s Mobile Baby mobile healthcare platform, which is helping to combat maternal mortality in developing countries, is testament to Etisalat successfully entering strategic growth areas using its telecommunications expertise for the benefit of communities. In financial services, Etisalat has demonstrated pioneering and productive innovation in delivering m-commerce solutions for millions of people across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.”
“We started this year with the aim of driving innovation, excellence, down costs and delivering on our previous investments in Next Generation Networks. These goals are being realised through, among other things, the launch of the nationwide Fibre To The Home (FTTH) and Long Term Evolution (LTE – 4G) networks in the UAE, and network optimisation across the Group to give Etisalat customers in our markets of operation the best network quality and speed,” Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar, group chief executive officer, Etisalat, added.
“While competition has eroded margins on voice services in our home market, our view of the telecommunications industry is that growth will continue to come from the emergent, international markets and higher margin services. Already we are seeing diversification of our revenues by services and geographies and less reliance on the UAE market.
“We have built for future growth and diversification of revenue through early investment in next generation networks both in the UAE and across our international markets. We are already seeing the benefits of this through positive growth in data revenues and Value Added Services.
“We are continuing to focus on driving cost optimization across Group operations while delivering customer oriented products and services to drive deeper penetration in new high growth sectors and emerging markets. We are well positioned for sustainable growth throughout 2012.”