Telecoms provider etisalat said on Wednesday that its third quarter profit jumped 29 per cent compared to the same 2016 period.

"Consolidated net profit after federal royalty rose to Dh2.4 billion resulting in a net profit margin of 19 per cent and increased year over year by 29 per cent," the Abu Dhabi-based telecoms major said in a statement.

While group revenues stood at Dh12.9 billion, Etisalat UAE revenues rose three per cent to Dh7.6 billion year on year.

Net profit of Etisalat UAE surged 4 per cent to Dh2 billion "despite the prevailing global economic challenges," it said.

Total subscriber base of Etisalat Group across all markets it operates reached 140 million while in the UAE, subscriber base recorded a 2 per cent growth to reach 12.5 million.

"Etisalat continues to deliver solid performance in the third quarter, despite the prevailing global economic challenges and the vastly transforming industry," said Saleh Al Abdooli, Etisalat Group CEO.

Etisalat is on the verge of entering a new era, which transcends any technological disruption ever witnessed, and will be altering and reshaping the society and industry on a large scale, he said.

"We always strive to remain one-step ahead and to harness the power of technology for the greater value of our customers and communities," said Al Abdooli.

He said etisalat's digital agenda has enabled it to enhance internal operations and widened the spectrum of offerings. "It remains the key driving force while we are probing the potential that emergent streams, as in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, can bring to us."

The telecoms CEO said innovation remains at the core of the group's priorities.

"We believe in nurturing open innovation and in developing a favourable ecosystem through successful collaborations and targeted investments in future technologies. We are adamant when it comes to our innovation leadership and utilising it in delivering smarter solutions and adding value to our customers and shareholders," he said.

He said etisalat is confidently moving forward and progressing positively in enriching lives and enabling societies across its footprint. "As a group, we will always assure a vigorous portfolio that is generating synergy, focusing on customer experience, growing value, and operating as one family."

As we look back at our achievements, we sense and honor the great support that was extended to us by the wise leadership of the UAE, who did not only enable the creation of a world class telecom sector, but are also leading the way and acting as role models in technology adoption," said Al Abdooli.

At the recent Gitex Technology Week, etisalat announced its fastest 5G live trial reaching 71Gbps, setting a global record in the industry, and marking the final phase of the evolution of high-speed mobile broadband services which is to be rolled out in the UAE by 2020.

Set to arrive within the next three years, 5G could account for as many as 1.1 billion connections by 2025. By then, 5G networks are likely to cover one third of the world's population.

In the third quarter, etisalat signed a strategic partnership as part of Dubai Future Accelerators program to bring future medical care solutions to UAE and Mena and launched the first IPX Exchange platform in region, which will augment its already existing SmartHub data center services.

Source: Khaleej Times