Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC) said that its revenues in Q3 2021 grew 6.9 per cent year-on-year to Dhs2.874bn on sustained demand for broadband services and 5G handsets. Fixed revenues grew 14.7 per cent to Dhs731m, whereas “other revenues” increased 16.6 per cent to Dhs839m due to a doubling of handset sales and higher wholesale revenues. Its EBITDA decreased 4.9 per cent amounted to Dhs1.1bn while its net profit declined by 65.6 per cent to Dhs283m in spite of higher depreciation and amortization charges. Its mobile customer base reached 6.5 million. The postpaid segment witnessed net-adds of 13,000. The postpaid customer base grew to 1.3 million while its prepaid customer base declined to 5.2 million subscribers. A resurgent postpaid segment led to the recovery of mobile revenue to Dhs1.304bn. The company also ended the quarter with 331,000 broadband customers.
Depreciation and amortization increased due to an ambitious investment programme. The disposal of Khazna Data Center in 2020 reduced the contribution from associates. EITC said that its capex dropped 27.3 per cent to Dhs372m due to phasing of expenditure. As a result, operating free cash flow increased to Dhs728m. This quarter is an inflection point for mobile service revenues: renewed with nominal growth (+0.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter) after three consecutive quarters of decline.