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Dubai: Emirates Telecommunications Corp (etisalat) posted a 20 per cent rise in fourth-quarter profit by adding new mobile phone users at home, but missed most analysts' forecasts as it continued to expand abroad.
etisalat, which operates in about 16 countries, made Dh1.76 billion in the three months to December 31, up 19.7 per cent from a year earlier, Reuters calculated based on full-year data released by the company.
The quarterly profit missed four of five analysts' forecasts in a Reuters survey last month, which ranged from Dh1.61 billion to Dh2.03 billion. The average was Dh1.83 billion.
Although etisalat's revenues jumped and its number of users continued to grow, it has been spending to expand abroad after it lost its home monopoly in February when rival du started operations.
The second-largest Arab telecom operator by market value, etisalat also announced a 10 per cent pay rise from November to help retain staff.
"The margins will be squeezed in the short-term as etisalat expands into new markets, especially in Egypt," said Marise Ananian, a telecom analyst at EFG-Hermes investment bank.
Statistics: 6.4m cellphone subscribers
- etisalat, which operates in about 16 countries, made Dh1.76 billion in the three months to December 31, up 19.7 per cent from a year earlier.
- etisalat had 6.4 million mobile phone subscribers in the UAE at the end of December compared with 6.2 million on September 30, indicating a net addition of 200,000 in the three-month period.
- Revenue jumped 31 per cent to Dh21.34 billion in the year.--The operator posted profit attributable to shareholders of Dh7.297 billion, or Dh1.46 per share, in 2007 compared with Dh5.86 billion, or Dh1.17 per share, in 2006.
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