Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), commercially rebranded as du, has published its financial results for Q1 2024. Revenues increased by 4.1% to AED 3.58 billion, reflecting the company’s continuous commercial momentum and market competitiveness. Notably, the digital telco’s net profit reached AED 603 million, a substantial 62.7% increase year-on-year, primarily reflecting a strong EBITDA growth.
The company’s EBITDA soared by 16.2% to AED 1.59 billion, reflecting top line growth and margin expansion as well as continued focus on enhancing operational efficiency, while the EBITDA margin expanded by 4.6 points to reach an impressive 44.3%.
Moreover, CapEx amounted to AED 359 million, while operating free cash flow for the year increased by 28.2% to AED 1.2 billion.
Commenting on the company’s recent performance, du CEO, Fahad Al Hassawi said, “2024 has kicked off on an extremely positive note. We strengthened our position as a major operator in the telecommunications industry by delivering an excellent operational and financial performance and executing on our strategic initiatives in core and non-core areas of our business. We expanded our customer base and achieved robust revenue growth, underscoring the strength of our offerings and our unwavering commitment to excellence. We have further optimized our operations, thus, significantly boosting our bottom line. Looking ahead, we are confident in our ability to sustain this positive momentum and we will continue to innovate and lead in the rapidly evolving telecom landscape while creating long-term value for our stakeholders.”
CEO Exclusive: Embracing the Digital Age: du's Journey of Record-Breaking Success
Launch of “du Pay”
On April 1, 2024, the company launched its digital financial services under the brand “du Pay” to provide transformative fintech solutions for UAE residents. This is a significant milestone that supports the UAE's commitment to fostering innovation, competition, and financial inclusion. Leveraging du’s robust brand identity and extensive customer reach, “du Pay” is poised to accelerate the transition towards a cashless economy and digitalization by providing unparalleled financial services.
Operating Highlights
du’s mobile customer base grew by 5.7% year-over-year, increasing to 8.7 million subscribers. The strong net-addition of 108,000 subscribers over the quarter highlights the continued success of the company’s commercial campaigns.
The postpaid customer base grew by a remarkable 10.1% to 1.7 million subscribers (Q1 2024 net-additions: 47,000) highlighting the company’s attractive offering for enterprises and the success of consumer offers such as the unlimited data Power Plan. Furthermore, the prepaid customer base grew by 4.7% to 7 million customers (Q1 2024 net-additions: 61,000), driven by attractive data and voice offers such as Alo, Easy and Flexi plans.
du’s fixed customer base also rose by a strong 11.1% year-over-year, totaling 616,000 subscribers, with net-additions of 12,000 subscribers over the quarter. This significant growth underscores the success of the company’s strategic positioning and is driven by the continuous success of its Home Wireless Plans and the sustained growth of its broadband customer base.
Financial Highlights
du’s reported Q1 2024 revenues grew by 4.1% year-over-year on the back of strong mobile revenues growth. The mobile service revenues grew by 7.4% year-over-year, reaching AED 1.6 billion, primarily driven by higher postpaid revenues from the sustained demand of the enterprise sector and the success of strategic customer offerings. Prepaid revenues also continued to grow, driven by the higher subscriber base.
In line with this, fixed services revenues reached AED 961 million, a 2.7% year-over-year growth, mainly driven by its Home Wireless product and enterprise broadband plans.
Other revenues remained relatively stable at AED 1.018 billion as higher interconnect and inbound roaming revenues offset the reduction in hubbing revenues.
CapEx investments are being directed towards continuous 5G coverage and fiber deployment as well as the ongoing transformation of du’s IT and network infrastructure.
