United Arab Emirates (UAE) telecoms group Etisalat has reported that consolidated revenues for the third quarter of 2021 amounted to AED13.3 billion (USD3.6 billion), representing an increase of 2.0% year-on-year and 0.6% quarter-on-quarter, while EBITDA decreased 2.4% y-o-y to AED6.7 billion in July-September, resulting in the Q3 EBITDA margin sliding by two percentage points to 51%, although if excluding one-off items recognised last year EBITDA would have grown by 0.1%. Group net profit after Federal Royalty reached AED2.4 billion in the three-month period, a 1.0% improvement y-o-y and up 1.7% q-o-q.
Etisalat’s aggregate subscription base stood at 155 million at 30 September 2021, showing a y-o-y increase of 4% due to growth in Saudi Arabia, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Chad, Benin, Pakistan, Morocco, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire and Gabon. Q-o-q the group base remained roughly flat. In the UAE, mobile subscriptions rose 1% y-o-y to 10.4 million (with the post-paid segment climbing 9%) and fixed broadband subscriptions grew 4% y-o-y to 1.3 million. The Maroc Telecom sub-group reached 72.8 million subscriptions at end-September, representing a 3% y-o-y increase.
Etisalat Group noted that on 28 October 2021 it completed a transaction to acquire additional shares in Etisalat Investment North Africa, increasing its effective ownership in Maroc Telecom Group from 48.4% to 53.0%.