By: Amr Adel

Dubai – Mubasher: Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) is looking to boost its revenues from outside the telecom sector, said CEO Osman Sultan.

du will focus on providing services outside the “traditional” telecommunications sector, the top official said in a video conference on Tuesday, indicating that most of the company’s growth will come from that area in the coming years.

Bolstering non-traditional revenues will come from providing services in residential complexes, smart cities, data-hosting, and cloud services, Sultan revealed.

Entering the non-traditional sector expands du’s competitors as competition goes beyond that of the other telecom operator in the UAE, the top official highlighted. Other competitors will include those working in information and e-security services.

du has recently added three new sectors as part of its revenue transformation scheme, Sultan revealed, indicating that these sectors include ICT services, infrastructure, and digital and innovative services.

It is unlikely that we will create new businesses for the newly-added sectors, Sultan stated, noting that this may, however, change in the future amid the fast-paced growth in the field of ICT and digital solutions.

du’s revenues from mobiles and the fixed line remain under pressure, which poses a challenge for the company, and all communication companies in general, du’s top official revealed. He added that the unique and dynamic infrastructure provided by the UAE government, however, provides a competitive environment that erases most of these pressures.

Commenting on Virgin Mobile, which was launched almost two months ago by du, the CEO said that the new brand has begun achieving revenues as of September, after the mother company suffered operating expenses, for launching the brand, during the first two quarters of the year.

The new brand is not a licence, third mobile operator, or a virtual network. It is merely a commercial agreement with US-based Virgin that allows du to use the latter’s brand name in the UAE.

Virgin Mobile revenues in the UAE are forecast to grow in the fourth quarter of 2017, Sultan projected.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Dubai-listed telecom operator reported achieving a 4% year-on-year growth in profits to AED 475.65 million ($124.57 million) in the third quarter of 2017 from AED 457.23 million ($124.46 million).

Responding to a question on du’s profit forecasts for the full year 2017, the CEO said that his company was looking to achieve “healthy results” compared to 2016, indicating du’s positive results for the second and third quarters of 2017. He added that his company was looking to offset the decline in Q1-17.

As for du’s liquidity, Sultan said that his company has enough liquidity to finance its current investments in network infrastructure or traditional sector projects, noting that in the event that there is a need for new loans, du will resort to financial institutions.

Commenting on the implementation of the value-added tax (VAT) and its impact on the UAE’s telecom sector, the CEO confirmed the tax’s impact on the sector, but stressed that it was too soon to determine the size of this impact, noting that du was currently conducting studies as to how much the tax will affect its operations.

Last week, du confirmed that it was committed to imposing the VAT on its services across the UAE starting 1 January 2018.

Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi