du reaches 400,000 customers; looking to offer fixed services by year-end

UAE’s second national operator du reported last week that its mobile subscriber base had reached 400,000. du launched cellular services in February this year. CEO Osman Sultan said, ‘A few days ago we exceeded 400,000 so we’re on a good curve. That’s getting close to 10% of the population in just a few months since launch,’ adding that his cellco was also hoping to provide internet access and wireline telephony services in the UAE by the end of this year. Sultan disclosed that instead of setting up its own infrastructure for these services, du would be using incumbent telco Etisalat’s existing network, and the two firms were currently in talks regarding access. Former monopoly Etisalat had 5.78 million mobile subscribers at the end of March, and remains the only national provider of fixed line and internet services.