Du’s subscriber base keeps on growing.

UAE second national operator Du has reached the 850,000 mark for mobile subscriptions, seven months after it launched services, CEO Osman Sultan told the Gitex Technology Conference in Dubai. Du competes with incumbent Etisalat, which according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database had close to six million subscribers at the end of June 2007. Wireless penetration in the UAE was around 120% at the end of 2006, before Du even started offering services, demonstrating the enormous appetite for mobile services in the wealthy Gulf state. On average, Du has signed up 4,000 new mobile customers a day since its launch in February 2007.