ABU DHABI: Emirates Telecom Group Company (Etisalat) has announced a net profit of AED 2.623 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, up 3.14 percent compared with the profit of AED 2.543 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.[the_ad id=”31605″]The earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter under review clocked in at AED 0.25 as against EPS of AED 0.24 in the same quarter last year. The total revenue for March 2019 quarter stood at AED 12.989 billion compared with revenues of AED 13.104 billion in the March 2018 quarter.
Engineer Saleh Abdullah Al Abdooli, Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Group said: “Etisalat’s solid performance of the first quarter is a promising start for 2019, an extension for our achievements of last year, and a testimony to the efforts in realising our vision and ambitions toward ‘Driving the digital future to empower societies”.
“Etisalat achieved the most valuable telecom brand in the MENA region, yet another significant milestone attributed to our digital efforts. Etisalat infrastructure continues to play a key role in our goal to bring -in full scale digital transformation. The consistent efforts and investment in our network has helped position the UAE as a global leader in FTTH penetration among all its international counterparts for a third year in a row”.
“Etisalat will continue its endeavour towards network modernisation and investment in future technologies such loT and Al powered by our pioneering deployment of 56 network which will enable the company to address its growing customer and business aspirations with innovative services and solutions. We are confident that 56 will bring a wealth of opportunities in the socio-economic development of the UAE”.
Etisalat Group aggregate subscribers as at 31 March 2019 was 143 million reflecting a net addition of 2.2 million during the last 12 month period, due to strong subscriber growth in the Morocco. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo and Niger. Quarter over quarter subscriber base increased by 1%.
In the UAE, the subscriber base dropped to 12.6 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2019 representing a year on year decline of 3% while quarter over quarter remained stable. The mobile subscriber base declined year on year by 3% to 10.7 million subscribers representing a net reduction of 0.3 million subscribers, of which 0.5 million was prepaid while the postpaid segment increased by 0.1 million.
eLife segment continued to drive consistent growth with 4% year on year increase to over 1.0 million subscribers. Total broadband segment grew by 2% year on year to 1.2 million subscribers.
For Maroc Telecom, the subscriber base reached 61.5 million subscribers as at 31 March 2019, representing a year over year growth of 5%. This growth is mainly attributable to the operations in Morocco, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo and Niger.
In Egypt, subscriber base decreased by 9% year over year and by 1% quarter over quarter to 27.1 million mainly due to the regulatory restrictions on subscriber acquisitions through direct channels.
In Pakistan, subscriber base increased by 9% year over year and 3% quarter over quarter to 24.9 million. This increase is attributed to the mobile segment.