Emirates Integrated Telecommunications (Du) chief executive officer Osman Sultan told Arab News he did not foresee any impact on Du’s profitability due to the recent move by Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA).

“I don’t see a significant impact on the earnings of Du due to the ban as customers will still be there and they will simply switch to alternatives,” said Sultan of the UAE’s number two telecom company.

Etisalat, the UAE’s top telecommunications firm, earlier said that the planned ban is unlikely to affect its yearly results.

“We are working to keep profit and revenues strong. We hope all existing BlackBerry customers will shift to alternative options and therefore we are not expecting any loss,” said Khalifa Al Shamsi, Etisalat’s senior vice president for marketing.

However, Moody’s Investors Service said on Tuesday that the fourth-quarter results of Etisalat would show the effect of suspending BlackBerry services.

“Although BlackBerry services are thought to be one of Etisalat’s key generators of revenue and profitability, Moody’s believes that the conversion rate of customers to permitted data services and the industry’s ability to maintain the momentum for mobile data services will be more important than any short-term dips in revenue in determining the impact on Etisalat,” said the report.

Etisalat’s net profit declined 15.21 percent to $1.06 billion in the first half of the year, down from $1.14 billion in the corresponding period. In the second quarter, the net profits fell sharply by 20.83 percent to $517.21 million from $653.32 million during the corresponding period last year.

Du, which has put pressure on the price of telecom services in the country, is yet to announce its second quarter and first half results. The Dubai-based phone and Internet company posted a four-fold rise in profit in the first quarter as it gained subscribers and introduced new products. The company’s net income climbed to $26 million from $6.37 million a year earlier. Its sales rose 36 percent to $430.1 million.

Du, which has about 100,000 BlackBerry users out of 500,000 across the country, has been offering a series of alternative “assurance plans” to BlackBerry customers.

The plans have been tailored to manage the situation with minimal disruption and no upfront cost, he said. However, the alternative packages will no’t be available to customers if Canada-based Research In Motion and the TRA come to an agreement and the ban isn’t carried out, Sultan added.

Etisalat on Tuesday offered BlackBerry customers free smartphones from Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson or iPhone. The offer will be available only to BlackBerry customers who subscribed to the services as of July 31, a day before the TRA announced the suspension. The new packages offer bundled services such as SMS and MMS as well as mobile Internet data services.