UAE Business: EITC first-quarter net profit jumps 21% to $85m – Gulf Digital News

UAE Business: EITC first-quarter net profit jumps 21% to $85m – Gulf Digital News

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (EITC), UAE’s second licensed telecommunications operator, has seen its first-quarter net profit jump 21% to AED311 million ($85 million).

Revenues grew by 8.5% to AED3.1 billion on sustained demand for broadband and mobile services. EBITDA grew by 13.3% to AED1.3 billion on higher service revenues. Operating Free Cash Flow (EBITDA – Capex) grew 75% to AED964 million thanks to higher EBITDA and Capex spend which is beginning to normalise.

Operating highlights

EITC’s focused commercial initiatives drove a 10.4% growth in mobile customers. It ended the quarter with 7.5 million subscribers on healthy net-additions across the postpaid and prepaid segments. The firm delivered a third consecutive quarter of net-additions on the postpaid segment which grew to 1.4 million customers.

Its prepaid customer base increased to 6.1 million thanks to targeted offers, brisk tourism activity and continued improvement in the economic environment.

The company’s consumer broadband offering remains extremely attractive. It attracted 48,000 new customers (Q1’21: 13,000) and ended the quarter with 439,000 broadband customers. This represents a 76.7% increase year-over-year. Again, its commercial initiatives across various product categories and the disciplined execution of its broadband strategy helped drive another quarter of solid performance.

Financial highlights

Revenues grew 8.5% to AED3,128 million. Mobile service