Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), commonly known as du, announced an impressive 19.6% growth in net profit for 2022. Gulf Business reported that this increase in service revenues lifted the gross margin to 65.2 percent compared to 62.2 percent in Q3 2021. This news comes as a significant achievement for the telecom giant, reflecting its strong financial performance and steady growth trajectory — and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down soon with the “sustained demand for broadband and mobile services.”

Du is one of the two major telecom providers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), along with its competitor, Etisalat (Emirates Telecommunication Group Company PJSC). The company has been operating in the UAE since 2007 and has established itself as a key player in the telecommunications industry. Du offers a wide range of services and products, including broadband connectivity and IPTV services to both residential and business customers.

The performance of EITC is a testament to the company’s ability to adapt to the changing market dynamics and customer demands. Despite the challenging economic environment, the company has been able to maintain a steady revenue growth and improve its profitability over time. The growth in net profit can be attributed to various factors. The Khaleej Times talked with Fahad Al Hassawi, EITC’s CEO, and he said that Q3’s results have been excellent on all fronts: “…we are benefiting from the UAE’s economic dynamism and healthy macro trends. Our results validate the efforts we deploy to: provide new products and services; improve customer experience; and execute our transformation journey. All these initiatives have laid the foundations of our commercial momentum.”

The company’s mobile service revenue has been a major driver of growth, increasing by 101.7 percent to Dhs1,443m while equipment sales generated Dhs176m in revenue. The number of mobile subscribers contributed, growing by 14.7 percent adding to their overall subscriber base which hit 7.9 million subscribers by year-end. Du has also benefited from their new products such as unlimited mobile data plans and fixed home wireless service, which has resulted in higher revenue from data plans and increased data usage. The  EITC expansion is also reflective of the company’s strategic initiatives to drive innovation and digital transformation. The company has invested heavily in its network infrastructure and launched new digital services, such as their 5G network, fiber deployment, and IT transformation. 

With such rapid growth comes more risk for malware and fraud. Arabian Business recently wrote that Dubai is not immune to ransomware attacks, calling out the importance of protection and security. The threat continues to become more persistent and sophisticated. Experts claim that the increasing pressure tactics and threats make ransomware an increasingly disruptive form of cybercrime. It not only is costing businesses billions of dollars, but also affects governments, schools, and public infrastructure. It is more important than ever for companies to “stay vigilant” and make the investment to protect their assets and infrastructure against cyber criminals.  

As the UAE’s telecom industry continues to evolve, EITC is well-positioned to leverage its strengths and capitalize on new opportunities to drive growth and success in the future. We’re interested to see what the collective industry accomplish in 2023.