Thursday, Oct 23, 2008

Gulf News

Dubai: Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du)Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) estimates it has reached its target of 30 per cent mobile market share, 16 months ahead of schedule.

Osman Sultan, chief executive at dudu, told Gulf News that the estimation, based on active subscribers, indicates that the company's growth has exceeded everyone's expectations.

"The UAE is experiencing extraordinary growth. That's one track fuelling our own growth and we focus on getting the best market share from this," he said.

The telecom company's total number of mobile customers at the end of the second quarter crossed the 2.3 million mark. Its active subscribers reached 1.85 million.

Another aspect driving their growth, Sultan said, was their position as a better value for money service. "We have gained credibility on how serious we are in driving the pricing curve to better value for customers," he added.

On its plan to further the company's growth, Sultan said it is approaching segmented markets. "Today, our network allows us to have segments that are price sensitive," he said, mentioning the recently launched low priced services targeted at labourers.

The company is also expanding geographically with its triple play services of landline telephone, internet and television.

Sultan also said that they are working with existing infrastructure to accomplish the expansion as well as trying out wireless infrastructures. A prototype for Wimax is operational in some areas of Dubai, he said.

"This is working well and we are considering the possibility of using Wimax and looking at the business phase of it."

Heavy investments

dudu services will be available in all the new residential and commercial developments that are taking place in the UAE, under the Telecom Regulatory AuthorityTelecom Regulatory Authority guidelines. People will have a choice between the two operators at all new developments.

Funding the expansion, their investments continue to be heavy.

"Our investments in 2008 are stronger than those of last year. I don't see the investments in 2009 as likely to decrease," Sultan said, adding that the company is in a growth phase and wants to sustain the momentum.

The company's total capital expenditure at the end of the second quarter was Dh888 million. Revenues were Dh1.6 billion in the first half of this year.

© Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.

 

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