Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has reported consolidated revenue of AED13.30 billion (USD3.6 billion) for the second quarter of 2015, an increase of 6% from AED12.58 billion in the year-ago period. Growth was driven by the consolidation of Maroc Telecom, as well as a 9% year-on-year rise in UAE turnover to AED7.5 billion, thanks to the strong performance of mobile and fixed broadband and higher smartphone sales. Etisalat, which is 60% owned by the UAE government, said that group consolidated EBITDA rose 17% from AED5.87 billion in the three months ended 30 June 2014 to AED6.84 billion the same quarter a year later, mainly due to continued strong domestic growth and higher contribution from Maroc Telecom. Consolidated net profit after royalty totalled AED1.53 billion in Q2 2015, a decrease of 39% from AED2.51 billion a year earlier, mainly due to one-off items recorded in 2Q14, as well as higher depreciation and amortisation expenses, lower share of profits from associates (including the impact of Mobily’s additional provision for accounts receivables), higher net finance costs, forex losses and higher federal royalty charges.
Etisalat reported an aggregate subscriber base of 168 million at the end of June 2015, a decrease of 8% from 182 million at mid-2014, due to various factors including the cleansing of customer bases and regulatory imposed control measures in Pakistan and Egypt that slowed down subscriber acquisition. Domestic active customers rose 0.4% year-on-year to 11.3 million, including 9.4 million mobile subscribers (+0.4% year-on-year) and over one million broadband users (an increase of 9% from mid-2014). In Nigeria, mobile subscribers increased by 18% in twelve months to reach 23 million at 30 June 2015, though in Pakistan the number of customers dropped by 21% to 22 million, impacted by the regulator’s subscriber registration exercise.