United Arab Emirates (UAE) telco Du has increased its CAPEX forecast for 2019, saying it plans a hike in spending of up to 70% this year as it prepares for the launch of 5G mobile services. Chief executive Osman Sultan said in a first-quarter earnings call: ‘Our CAPEX guidance for 2019 will be in the range of AED1.6 billion to AED1.7 billion [USD436 million to USD463 million] … from AED1 billion last year.’ Earlier this year Du said that it expected 2019 CAPEX to be in the range of AED1.3 billion to AED1.4 billion.
Du is hoping to launch commercial 5G services before the end of this year using a network of 700 base stations. In the first three months of 2019, Du’s revenues fell 5.7% from a year earlier to AED3.1 billion, while net profit after royalties declined 12.3% year-on-year to AED450 million.