DUBAI, 5 October 2005— The Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, Etisalat, the UAE’s sole telecom operator, has reported a 24 percent increase in its net profits for the first eight months of the current year, reaching 2.87 billion dirhams compared with 2.32 billion dirhams for the corresponding period last year and predicted profits of more than 4.2 billion dirhams for the full year.
This would be a 24 percent projected growth in net profits over last year’s 3.4 billion dirhams.
This was announced after an Etisalat board meeting chaired by Mohammed Hassan Omran, Etisalat chairman and chief executive officer.
The board reviewed the performance of Etihad Etisalat in Saudi Arabia, where it has gained 1.5 million subscribers in five months. Also discussed was Etisalat’s entry into Pakistan where it is buying a stake in a telecom company. The deal has to be completed by Oct.28.
The management meeting also stressed its human resources and their loyalty ahead of the launch of a second telecom operator to be licensed by the government. “The board discussed Etisalat’s strategy for the coming era and the steps being adopted to improve performance in a competitive environment,” Etisalat said in a statement.
“Plans to prepare the corporation from the perspective of human resources preparedness, technical competence, as well as organizational structure for meeting upcoming challenges and competition confidently and efficiently were also reviewed by the board,” it said.