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Etisalat's 2019 profit up 1% to Dh8.7 billion

Etisalat profit for 2019 rose one per cent to Dh8.7 billion compared to Dh8.6 billion in the previous year, the telecom giant said in its unaudited preliminary results sent to Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on Wednesday.
Its earnings per share grew from Dh0.99 to Dh1 year-on-year basis.
The company will announce its audited consolidated financial statement after the approval of the board of director's meeting to be held on February 18. The board of directors will also discuss proposal for distribution of final dividends for 2019.
According to etisalat's unaudited statement, consolidated revenues dipped marginally 0.4 per cent to Dh52.18 billion, blaming decrease in revenues of international operations due to currency fluctuations and decrease in the mobile revenue of UAE operations.
Total assets grew from Dh125.2 billion in 2018 to Dh128.2 billion in 2019, up by 2.4 per cent. Its operating profits dropped from Dh12.67 billion to Dh11.79 billion.
Etisalat has been investing heavily in new technologies, especially in 5G. In December 2019, the telecom giant deployed Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) implementation that will pave the way for etisalat to roll out new 5G-styled services, beginning with its Content Delivery Network (CDN).
MEC is a network architecture that brings real-time, high-bandwidth, low-latency access to radio network information, allowing operators to open their networks to a new ecosystem and value chain. The deployment of MEC architectures will be critical for 4G/5G service providers, as it allows them to significantly reduce latency, which is essential for delivering the new breed of revenue-generating services such as virtual reality gaming, autonomous driving, augmented reality, IoT, and many others.
In January, etisalat, in cooperation with Ribbon Communications, launched first-of-a-kind cloud-based business unified communication and collaboration service for small and medium businesses and enterprise customers in the UAE.
In January, etisalat was named 'The Most Valuable Consumer Brand' and 'The Most Valuable Telecom Brand' in Middle East and Africa (MEA) by Brand Finance. The brand value increased to $8.5 billion as the most valuable consumer brand in MEA for a third consecutive year on a standalone basis. Etisalat is also the only telecom brand to retain AAA brand rating.
- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com