Du's revenue up 9.7% year-on-year as mobile data services boom

Dubai-based telecoms operator Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (Du) has announced its financial results for 2013, reporting a 9.7% year-on-year increase in revenue to AED10.8 billion (USD2.9 billion). Mobile services accounted for 78% of the total, thanks in part to soaring mobile data revenue, which grew 34% to AED2.4 billion; mobile data revenue now accounts for 28% of mobile revenue, up from 23% in 2012. However, higher royalty payments to the government meant that net profit after royalties increased only slightly to AED1.99 billion in 2013 from AED1.98 billion in 2012. The company revealed that it paid an extra AED183.5 million in royalties in 2013 compared with a year earlier.